Writing Tip: I remember getting very irritated when I read some of my son's fantasy books. What is the use of having a name like N'brt'caeultf'putfieuo? I'd end up reading "N" whenever I saw the name. I determined never to subject my readers to such folly. Thus, I came up with Dar, Kale, Leetu Bends, Wizard Fenworth, and . . . mmm? Those tumanhofers just had to have long names. But the names are phonetic. The new one in The Wandering Artist is Graddenmitersay. It looks hard but it isn't.
Gradden
miter
say.
I suggest when you make up a fantasy name, to make it easy to read. Irritating the reader is never a good move.
Mrs. Paul is a fantasy author and grandma. 
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Very good advice Mrs. Paul. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteIn one of my stories, I have three dwarves: Cranjellywart, Gilgunnypox, and Downwhiffinspit. Too fun!
ReplyDeletei love your characters names.
ReplyDeleteNames of tumanhoffers--need long names to match long beings. But it works sometimes!
ReplyDeleteI think the names you create are really cool, Mrs. Paul! And like you, when I make up names, I spell them the way they sound. It really does make reading them easier.
ReplyDeleteI am reading Dragon's Knight and the tumanhoffer names are easy to pronounce, as you say, but also they are funny and add to the personality of the character. I appreciate the effort you make to create easy to pronounce/remember names.
ReplyDeleteA pet peeve of mine is when an author starts all the names with one letter - soon we forget who Wayne, Will, and Walt are and care even less. I call it alphabetic discrimmination and I want to say to the author, "Hey, give the other 25 a chance!"
I agree with you on the alphabet discrimination. At book-signings, some of the readers will pronounce the tumanhofer names with great relish. It reminds me of saying antidisestablishmentarianism when I was a kid. Or Supercalifragilisticexpealidoutious!
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