This article is by Grace Robinson.
People sometimes ask me how I come up with names for my fantasy stories – names of characters, as well as names of creatures, places, and things.
I don’t have a standard formula for inventing names, but after doing some thinking, I realized that there are three main methods I use.
I believe that many authors use these methods in one way or another:
Like most children of the 1980s, I grew up surrounded by Star Wars. Star Wars lunch pales were the rage at school. Star Wars toys, books and magazines littered my room. And the Darth Vader outfit was the Holy Grail of Halloween costumes.
Yet the most admired of all things Star Wars were the movies themselves. Amongst my peers it was agreed that these films were the pinnacle of cinematic greatness. They were spoken of with reverence and awe. And the bearded, benevolent toy maker – George Lucas – was viewed with the same enchanted wonder as Santa Claus.