So here is a question I normally wonder about when I am both reading and writing. Why do people create the characters the way they do? So I was hoping I could get some feedback just to get my curiosity sated lol This can be for either a single character or just a spread of your characters in general. So basic rules for if you are going to do it with specific characters you have created: Character name and story they are found in need to be present. Give any background info you have on the character, such as if they are based on a friend or pulled from something historic. I'll start it off with a few of my characters. Venus, from Shadow Hunters. First off, Venus is the Roman version of Aphrodite. Since I was wanting to mess with a lot of different mythologies, I decided to pull her name from the Roman version of the love Goddess. Also I went with that version simply because the Roman versions of the Greek gods were more militaristic. Since Venus is a warrior, the name fit. The two main story lines I had in mind for her both involved her falling in love and gaining powerful partners. Sha'Kir, from Power Play. Sha'Kir is actually based off my fiancee (Who looks absolutely nothing like and Orc, but I was enjoying writing about Orcs at the time and it sounded like a fun character idea). She is bisexual like my fiance and some of the positions (Like with Crush and Gray in the very beginning) are things we have actually done. Some of the things I write for her will be based on things she has done or I have watched her do. Why name her Sha'Kir? Sounded interesting to me. Winlay Grace, from my original story Paradise Pandora. Winlay was based on an ex I had at the time I created the story. She was very religious and a good girl. We waiting on marriage for sex (Didn't work out), so I used writing a fictional version of her to explore some twisted fantasies I had at the time. I blame lack of sex for that.... This character was one of the major players in the story and after splitting with my ex, it effectively killed my ambitions with the story. Winlay's named comes from an altered version of Winry from Fullmetal Alchemist. The Grace part is due to the religious aspect. Broden and Ethimilee, from Forbidden Temptations. these characters were born thanks in large part to Reciter5613 and his idea for an Elven Queen/Orc Warrior romance. I took the idea and ran with them and these characters were the result. Like Sha'Kir and another Orc, Karuuk, Broden is very intelligent and capable of leading. I don't want to give away too much about him yet. As for Ethimilee, I liked the idea of her being pretty naive and vulnerable. A powerful Elven queen would be cool, but it has been seen a lot. She loves her people and wants to do right by them, but she isn't sure how. Broden is there to be the strength she needs and more as the story progresses. On women in general: I enjoy writing about women with a set of balls on them (Not literally), that are not afraid to get their hands dirty. Sword in hand and ready to fight, an empowered lady is a sexy lady. There have been exceptions to this (Ethimilee), but mostly I like to see a strong female lead. Orcs: Another writer pointed out to me that Orcs are usually used as fodder for writers to use in a battle and then move on with the story. I had already made one Orc into a strong character so after that conversation I decided to make Sha'Kir into the Orc she is today and make her a strong and smart character as well. Broden of course came a little after that. Well, that's all from me for now, so please feel free to add in.
For "Love Party Britain" and its companion "Decameron XXX" I'm creating actors so the names are very indicative of real life actors usually taking the first name and part of the same name or one which ethnically matches. They are not meant to be exactly the same person but share appearance and certain parts of career and personal history but not necessarily character. Ironically I named one character Emily Wilson before I hit on this idea, who you might think was based on similarly named actress but bore no resemblance whatsoever. Of course Ivor Bigun was chosen purely for comedy purposes, although some porn stars do have ridiculous names. If I am writing in the modern day I often combine a couple of names that I know but I just do that as an aide-memoire so I do not have to keep looking them up. For ethnic characters I tend to research common and less common names derived from their country of origin to add authenticity. For one I used what was alleged to be a name generator but on closer examination it was very poor and had to spend just as long modifying the names. If the work is historical I tend to use the same approach. For example I wrote a story about Rome and slaves (not published here yet) and I made sure the names I chose for the slaves (if they were not Romanised) did exist in the time and place they were from.
Hey that's interesting! Since my big stories have been fantasy, I've really just made up most of the names, though with Shadow Hunters I did rip some from various mythos and movies. (Lycoan, Dracula, Van Helsing.... Probably more that I don't remember....) Talking about naming reminds me of my story Tempting Ashley. I named the two males Jack and Danial. Didn't notice the alcohol connection until a friend of mine pointed that out. Honestly if I hadn't found it so funny I might have changed the names.
