My super guest blogger today is the amazing and prolific Jessica Subject, one of my fellow Decadent Publishing authors and Six Sentence Sunday pals. Please give her a hearty welcome!
Today, Jess discusses how she comes up with the names for all those folks running around in the writer's brain! And, she's giving away great swag to celebrate the publication of CRASH LANDING, her newest sci-fi erotica release from The Edge, Decadent Publishing's HOT erotica line.
Naming Characters
Depending on the story I’m writing, naming the characters involved can
take some work.
For my heroes, I tend to prefer single syllable names, or nicknames.
Some examples from my stories include, Frey, Josh, Bryce, Dare, and Quinn. For
the heroine’s name, it really is dependent upon the story, and can range from
one to three syllables.
Often I will search for a name in my Dictionary
of Baby Names, which gives the meaning, derivations, and origins. I’ve also
gone online to check the numerous lists of baby names depending on time period
and origin.
One of my worst habits when naming characters is using the same first
letter over and over. My favorite letters to begin characters’ names are: B, J,
and L. I purposely use the dictionary to look under different letters now.
For Crash Landing though, I used Google Translate. Why? Because I wanted
very specific names. Latin is now considered a dead language, but it is still
used in the formation of new words in the modern language. In this case though,
I was looking for exact translations. One characters comes from space, so I
looked for the Latin translation of space. The latin noun cael means heaven,
sky, universe, world, space, air. So my first character was named Cael. The
second character, although also from space, lived in the water. And so he
became Mare (sea, water, briny, aqua, brine). The female character is from
Earth, and although not an exact translation, I named her Tara.
So, how about you? Do you think character names are important in a
story?
Here’s an excerpt from the beginning of the Crash
Landing:
Cael gripped the
cushioned arms of the captain’s chair as his ship tumbled bow over stern. The
console flashed a blinding red in front of him. Piercing alarms drilled into
his mind and he lost focus. The seconds raced by as he plummeted toward Earth.
He’d fucked up this mission of peace. Contact with his home planet had ended
months ago. No one from Narien could save him now. His death was imminent.
The water below
wouldn’t soften his landing. At its current speed, his ship would disintegrate
on splashdown. The planet’s gravity pulled him down faster.
He coughed; the
acrid scent of fried electronics stung his nose and the back of his throat. Please let my death be quick.
A rattling to
the left caught his attention above all other noise. The handle on the cabin
door shook. Freedom. It wasn’t his
time to die, if he could get out.
The altimeter on
the dashboard read six thousand meters, high enough to jump and land safely
with his chute. Only to land in frigid
water and die of exhaustion or hypothermia from treading without any hope of a
rescue.
“Shit.” But he’d
die if he stayed. He had to take the chance. Yanking off his safety harness, he
pulled himself to standing and strained to reach the recess where his pack
hung. Stretching up, he fingered the cloth strap. Not close enough to grab hold
of it.
The ship jolted
and flung him to the stern. He weaved his arm through the straps of the pack on
his way past, dislodging it from the hook. Yes.
His triumph was
short-lived as he flew starboard, smashing his shoulder against the wall. He
groaned when an electrifying spasm shot down his arm to the tips of his
fingers. The ship lurched again, and he tumbled back toward the console. He
grabbed the door, his feet dangling in mid air. If he didn’t get out now, he’d
forfeit any chance to survive.
The ship righted
again. He planted his feet against the bottom of the door and twisted the
crank. The latch snapped open, filling him with a sense of hope. Careful to keep
at least one hand on the handle at all times, he slung the pack over his
shoulders.
All set. Time to jump. Pushing off the
floor, he slammed his uninjured shoulder against the door. It blew open and
tore away from its hinges, lost to the sky.
Cael teetered on
the edge before plunging out of his failing ship. Wind whipped all around him
as he twisted to catch his bearing during freefall.
Glancing down,
he spied crystal blue lake, much closer than he’d expected. Too close.
He jerked the
cord on his chute–several hundred feet lower than he should have. At least. His
feet skimmed the cold waves just as his chute caught the current and heaved him
back into the air.
The ship
splashed into the water beside him, disintegrating into millions of pieces. He
raised his hands in front of his face as shrapnel flew at him. Tiny shards
sliced into his arms and legs, but the extreme heat from the cloud of steam
billowing up at him stung the most.
From the moment
his toes touched down in the once frigid water, his skin sizzled. He screamed
in agony. His death would have been quicker and less agonizing if he’d remained
in the ship.
A hard piece of
his spacecraft smashed down on his head, and he welcomed the darkness.
Crash Landing Blurb
As his ship plummets toward Earth, Cael believes his
life to be over. His last ditch effort to save himself ends in a fiery crash.
When he wakes up, he believes he’s entered the afterlife, but his surroundings
indicate otherwise. He made it to Earth. But who saved him, and what do they
want with him?
Giveaway!!
Leave a comment with your email address
to receive Crash Landing swag (signed postcard & magnet). Giveaway ends
October 19th, 2012. Thank you!
Bio:
Jessica Subject started writing to
encourage her daughter to read. Now she writes to keep herself grounded.
Although she reads many genres, she enjoys writing Science Fiction Romance the
most and believes everyone in the universe deserves a happily ever after. She
lives Southwestern Ontario, Canada with her husband and two kids and loves to
hear from anyone who has enjoyed her stories.
