life under the sun...

today was my first day of my junior year, we started off by doing a time sucking assignment in Weilands class, god i hate that man sometimes. i mean really? create a “COW LAUNCHER”

okay…

we went over some guidlines after that and started discussing the AP portfolio, not our ideas, simply the reqirements and the magnitude and importance of doing well. 

no pressure.

i’ve printed out the guidelines for scoring the portfolio’s so that as i begin the works i can sorta judge each of them in my head by the same standards.
i’m aiming for a six of course, though i’d be satisfied with a five.
the requirements for a six are:

• is consistantly of high qualityalthough not all pieces will necassarily be at the same level of expertise;
• shows an imaginative, inventive, and confident articulation of the principles of design;
• shows accomplished use of elements of designguided by the princables;
• shows an informed sense of composition;
• shows obvious evidence of thinking
• demonstrates evidence of confidence and of verve;
• addresses fairly complex visual and/or conceptual ideas
• uses materials effectivly; technique is generally excellant
• may show successful engagement with experimentation and/or risk taking
• may be notable for sensitivity and/or subtlety;
• demonstrates informed decision making
• any apparent use of published or photographic sources or the work of other artists clearly provides a visual referance in the service of a larger personal vision.

 
i’m itching to get started, i’m bursting with ideas from over the summer and i’m ready to go, to do it.

lets start already!

i keep seeing this image in my head of myself, naked and fighting another broken version of myself, possibly puppet-ised.

How to name a character.

I’m a big believer in the sanctity of names, and as a writer I have always felt that you should put almost as much care into naming your characters as you would do with naming your children. The name should be good for the context of the story, and maybe even mean something later on. This principle should be used if you believe, like I do, that your name can sometimes define who you are.

I’m going to pull you through the same process that I use in naming my characters, there are other ways of course, but I felt that I could best explain my own.

1.         First off, it might be wise to think in depth about your character, and the factors of your story.

·         the nationality

·         the time period

·         the genre of your book

·         and the personality of your character

·         what type of character: villain, hero, nerd, loser, jock, stoner, princess, cheerleader, brain, sorceress/sorcerer,

·         are they a main character or a foil/background character

2.       Secondly, you might want to consider what type of book/story you’re writing, and how important the meaning of the name is.

·         Are you looking for a name that just sounds good?

·         Does the name need any significance

·         Will the meaning of the name be “challenged” by the character’s actions or the plot?

·         Will there be anything biblical about your book? Anyone with the initials <b>J.C.</b>?

·         Does the name have some sort of legacy attached? Royal namesake, inherited connotations, old family name, the last person in the family to have said name was either famous or infamous for something/great or terrible.

We’ll return to these as this article progresses

I‘ve always felt that names that do not fit the character’s nationality are a complete eyesore in a story. You always see them, the American girl with the Japanese name, or the name that no one can pronounce, or they name that doesn’t fit with the time period but that’s not all, or the pretentious name like raven, or midnight. I wouldn’t name a character straight out of Zimbabwe, Mary.  Nor should you take any characters name and twist it from their nationality, trust me, it ends up being a complete mess on the page.

Now, throughout this article I intend to use examples from my own story, this might be seen by some as; ”oh’ she’s promoting her own work” or, “she’s saying that her way is the only way/the best way”

I’m not. I just know how I write and I feel that I might be able to give the best examples from my own work or work that’s known by a broad audience, like Harry Potter. (another book I take examples from)

So to continue….

Take my main character Aden, now, I really shouldn’t be talking about him, because I sorta lucked out on his name. I named him before researching it, and it ended up being perfect. But let’s pretend it was all intentional.

Aden is the Gaelic word for fire and an old Spanish name meaning strength in marriage; and for those of you who know my story, you know that fits him well each way.

For those of you who don’t know, Aden is a human “mutt” - multiple races and such, but he thinks of himself almost exclusively as Argentinean, Cheyenne Indian and American. Ergo the fact that his name has some Spanish origin/precedent a win. Aden is also from a book that is quite fantastical, and so that I don’t ruin the plot for those few that read my story, all I’m going to say is that “fire” (the Irish meaning of his name) is sort of his <b><i>thing</b></i>.

Aden is also very Christian. NOT a hypocritical Christian: everyone knows these  people, they feel they are better than you because they are Christian and judge others for their beliefs or lack thereof. No, Aden is one of those true Christians, the kind of Christian that doesn’t force his beliefs on you or try to change who you are, he just has a true honest faith in “God”. Which is the only type of Christian I respect because I can tell the truly believe in their faith, and in the rules and guidelines of that faith.

Whoa there, didn’t mean to go off on a tangent.

Short explanation: Aden would never have sex before marriage, ergo the “strength in marriage portion of his name. And as for the Irish origin of his name…well, it’s a flimsy connection, but he does love an Irish girl.

Okay, so that’s the sort of deep rooted connection I think a name should have with a story. That’s what we’re trying to get for you and your characters.

Now let’s move on to some specific names

<b>GUYS</b><i> for modern fiction, present day characters. Not for fantasy; that’s a whole other genre.

Now for guys in this genre I think what is “in-vogue” at the moment is the old-fashioned or all American names;

Such as:

<b>Edward</b> (you all know better than to use this one, especially for a main character)

<b>Josh/Joshua

Jack </b>

<b>Taylor

Brandon

Justin

Cameron

Lucas

Zachary

Austin

Hunter

Thomas/tom/tommy</b>

<b>Jacob</b> (same thing; thanks a lot Stephanie Meyer for taking these names for your silly book)

<b>Andrew

Jonathan

Ethan

William

Christopher

David</b>

<b>Joseph</b> (okay, this is apparently a popular baby boy name, but I really can’t see it as a character’s name; possible because it’s my dad’s name :shrug: )

<b>Noah

Ryan

Logan (there you go Amalia!)

Nathan

Elijah

Nicholas

Benjamin

Christian

Tyler</b>

And so on and so forth.

the thing with names is you want to check the meaning, take these names

some don’t have that much meaning to them, or they do have meaning but it has no visible effect on the story  because it is either so abstract or it is too general a meaning

like:

<b>Evan</b> = god is gracious. That’s not so specific that it would alter the story much but still, it’s good to know.

Then you have names that are chocked full of meaning, and the meaning can then either affect the story subtly or not; maybe the character mentions it in a manner in which doesn’t give away the ending. If you’re doing teen fiction; maybe researching your name is a class assignment that doesn’t really shove its way into the foreground of your plot, but it still sort of always there in the background. The person can’t go to the party because they have to work on this assignment, the main characters talk about it briefly at the lunch table, something subtle.

Take the name:

<b>Zachary</b> = the lord remembers. Now HERE is a name whose meaning can affect a book. Whether a character is religious or not this is a great name if you want to have biblical allusions in your book, foreshadowing, mirroring, or anything that can be analyzed later.

Say this Zachary guy makes some sort of mistake, or maybe he doesn’t; but his life ends up being defined by it.

If he made a mistake; he somehow profits from it and has a wonderful life; but “god remembers” and it ends up being his undoing.

Or say Zachary does a great kindness to someone when he is young, or maybe even throughout his whole life, yet his life is tragic, very little good happens to him, maybe the girl he loves has cancer, his parents die young, he loses his job, stuff like that. But when he needs it - say the girl is in the hospital dying – god remembers that Zachary has lived his life well, and saves the girl.

Now, lets talk about different personalities. I want you to think of the type of character this person is just by the name.

Humphrey…

How many of you thought “oh’ that’s the hero!”? and how many of you thought “oh’ that’s the chubby student library assistant in the sweater vest”?

Daniel…

How many of you thought “intelligent – possibly the hero”? and how many of you thought “stoner”

See how both names called up connotations?  Take Neville in harry potter. NERD.

Now think of Dumbledore (r.i.p. LOL) that name has this sense of nobility to it.

Now think of harry himself. The name is sort of strong, but it’s also got s distinctly scruffy feel to it. this isn’t going to be your drop dead gorgeous hero, this is a hero with some humanity, some faults.

Got it? good.

Now lets try playing with a nickname

We’ll use Daniel again, but this time we’ll use the nickname Danny.

Now this could be the “stoner” or it could be the more relaxed version of the intelligent hero.

Anybody following me?

If you’re continuing to read this, I’ll assume you are.

<b>Fantasy male names</b>

Now if your story is off in its own little world, A.K.A. non-present fantasy. I think it’s best to try to stick to names that your demographic can pronounce, meaning that you should leave out as many hyphens as you can. Sorry, but no one want to read a story about <b>Aneiällo’monťtirosiŭ</b>. They do however want to read about <b>Vax</b>. (again, that’s me pulling a name from one of my oldest fantasy works. Sorry!)

Keep the name slightly recognizable to the reader. maybe even have parts of a normal name in the fantasy name, or you can use normal names along with fantasy names

Tomilan : i.e. the name Tom, with a fantasy suffix.

And try having Tomilan be best friends with Andrew and kendrelli.

It’s fantastical enough that the reader can believe it but not so fantastical that they get lost,

WOOT!

coming up with fantasy names is a little difficult, try saying it aloud a few times, the more it rolls off the tongue the better. And also try mispronouncing it a little, to see all the ways a reader could say it wrong, and if there is any way to fix the spelling so they say it right. If your set on having it spelled a certain way and your readers are still pronouncing it wrong, try having two characters talk about that person.

<b>person one</b>: did you see Vestainie at the party last night?

<b><i>Person two</b></i>: who?

<b>person one</b>: Vestainie, the girl with (insert identifiable character trait here)

<b><i>Person two</b></i>: Oh’ her? Yeah, I danced with her a couple times, how do you say her name?

<b>person one</b>: Vest-e-anee or something. Apparently it’s an old family name.

<b><i>Person two</b></i>: I’ll never understand why people insist on naming their children so strangely. I mean what happened to good old fashioned names like, biltose or abreta?

<b>person one</b>: some people…

The explanation is there, but it’s subtle and natural, it doesn’t slam the reader in the face with a sign that says “you gotta say it right!!!!”

And sorry for the switch to a female name in the section about male fantasy names, I just came up with something and after a few seconds of using it, it sounded more feminine.

Which leads me to this point.

Try the name out on a boy and a girl before you set it on a character, make sure you do this before you get used to calling either character by that name. I mean, in English we have those names that can go for either gender, and I’m ABSOLUTLY sure that fantastical names can do the same in some instances, but try to get it as clear as possible for the reader.

Some easy tricks are if it ends in an A, it’s feminine. If it ends in an E it’s generally masculine. If it ends in IE it gets a bit so-so.

The stronger sounding the name the more likely it is to be masculine, take Vax again. It has that strong X at the end, and that smooth VA in front. Almost automatically you can tell this character can have some strong traits but also some smooth ones.

Think about the letters in the name, try to give them adjectives

X – I always think of this as strong, but it hardly ever ends up in the front of a name. it’s more suffix-ey

H – This is more free, I almost get an earthy feel from it. (The H is not in conjunction with T in this case)

K – Another powerful letter, though it’s not normally as severe as X, it can be. (Like in JACK)

S – This letter seems either sensual or sneaky (two adjectives that both start with S, as luck would have it)

D – dull… unless it’s like Damon or Devin, though the name Devin is more dependent on the persons personality, it can go either way.

Etc.

<b>Kay! Girls names</b>

I really can only give you rules of thumb here, since there are so many more girls names than guy names, at least…maybe it’s more appropriate to say there are more names for girls that are in style at all times.

·         If the character is supposed to be sexy, give her a strong name that falls of the tongue like honey. She should EMBODY her name, unless she is supposed to be like one of those prissy girls that are named after food. Candy, cookie, cupcake (a lot of C’s…)

·         If the character is dowdy/mousy. Give her an out of style name. Mary, Mildred, Greta, Helga.

·         If she’s sort of a tomboy, give her a boyish nickname. Samantha becomes Sam. (oldest trick in the book)

·         If the character is regal, give her a timeless name. Elizabeth, Genevieve, Sarah, Clarissa.

·         Use the name to describe the character, I have a character named Shay, she’s short and stocky. Her name is also SHORT AND STOCKY

·         Keep away from pompous or pretentious names unless your character is in a separate class of people. Do not give a peasant the name Guinevere. Don’t give a countess the name Agnes.

·         Very rarely should you name your characters after flowers. I BREAK THIS RULE. I’ve got a girl named Poppy and her mother’s name was Rose…it sounds silly doesn’t it?

·         Do not give your character YOUR NAME! That’s a Mary sue characteristic. And you will get mocked for it

·         Woman embody their names, I cannot say it enough, think of a friend and then separate the name and try to think of a character with that name. Almost always, you’ll be unable to envision anything other than your friend.

·         Keep it believable people, a natural name, is better than an interesting name every time. And one that is both is the best.

Bye! I’ll be sure to add anything I think of in the comments.

love as a tangible thing…instead of an abstract idea.

new philosophy in life? maybe so, though probably not.

i don’t know, i’m just sort of in a place right now where i see all these unhappy people that don’t need to be unhappy. i know it’s cliche, but i feel people can choose to look on the bright side of things. you don’t have to be unhappy if you choose not to be. happiness is a state of being, and though life can suck and it may even be appropriate to grieve and feel sorrow at points in our lives, we shouldn’t let these feelings rule us. such behavior is selfish and sociopathic, how self-important these people seem to me. they do not truly understand suffering, nor honest pain or loss.

this whole rant isn’t concrete or even fully thought out, i just…needed to write something down.

i snuck out of my house last night and went and sat out in a field for a few hours. i do stupid things like that.

but that really isn’t the point, the point is; while i was there i just stared at everything around me and i realized that so many people around me seem to be living in a world were nothing miraculous ever happens, when here i am -stuck in a world were everything, every moment is imbued with the joy and wonder of a miricle. and for the longest time i thought this was a great way to live, but now i’m wondering if i am so very wrong.

i guess my only way of explaining it is by saying, no one lives on the top of the mountain. it’s fine to go there occasionally; for inspiration, or for new perspectives.

but you have to come down.

life is lived in the valleys. That’s where the homes and gardens and people are, and where the pleasures are experianced along with the pains, and the work is done. That’s where you apply the visions you may have glimpsed from the peaks.

maybe it is pretentious of me to say these things, maybe they are far to profound for me to fully comprehend or to fully give the full wieght of my thoughts through these clumsy words. but i’m in one of those moments in life that feels like a fever, like every particle of yourself is bursting with an un-nameable urgency.

staring up at those stars, i began to cry, am i - is my entire life - just a whim of the Creator? or do i have some purpose, some fate.

maybe i’m just hungry for some meaning in my life, some purpose, something to test me, and for me to pass that test of character or whatnot.

i want to affect the world, so that it will be at least a little bit different for me having passed through it.i believe what frustrates me and my friends and robs our lives of joy is this absence of meaning… does our being alive matter?

i have an urgency to prove myself. to render a better service than i or any one else expects of me.

what started this unasked for rant??? a piece of torn paper on the ground, one with half a quote. “What great thing would you attempt if you kne-“

after i got home i found the rest of the quote online,

“What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?
-Dr. Robert H. Schuller