Character Brainstorming

[meridian_rose]

Character brainstorming/mapping, for a writerverse challenge.


For the mindmap challenge I decided to map out everything I know about a new male character who will appear in Kat's world and be an important part of much of the latter half of the story.


Click for full size
edit: 'wordly' in the personality section should read 'worldly'.

I also think in Myers-Briggs terms (brief assessment done) he is an ESFP.
ESFP Credo: "Where's the party?"
ESFP Keywords: Friendly, Chatterbox, Easy-going, People-centric, Harmonious, Flexible, Goes with the flow, Sociable, Caring, Supportive/Practical, Relational

He's the sort of man who'll try and talk his way out of trouble, but if it comes to it, he'll throw the second punch.

The hardest thing is naming him. I've been through websites and generators, Welsh and Cornish names books, general names books and the New Age (some more obscure) name book. Excluding names I have or plan to use else where (eg Laurie appears in a WIP) and avoiding R names (of which I have many already in this verse) these are the names I'm leaning towards.

Delainey – Irish/Old French or Old English. Variant spellings: Delaney, Delaney. Meaning 'from the alder grove' or 'black defiance'. Delainey also used for females.

Donovan – Irish/Gaelic. Variant spellings: Donavan. Meaning 'dark; or 'brown haired chieftan/warrior'

Sulley – Gaelic/Old English. Variant spelling: Sully. Short form of Sullivan. In this form can mean 'south meadow'. Sullivan means 'dark eyed' or 'hawk eyed'. Gwaine/Gawain means 'white hawk/falcon' so I like the link

Eilian – Welsh, maybe also Cornish. Unisex. A St Eilian well exists in Anglesey. Meaning is uncertain, possibly 'second' or 'a moment in time'. Pronounced Ee-lian/Eye-lee-ann but I'm leaning to the pronunciation Ell-ian. Maybe have to spell it Ellian. Elyan is another Arthurian knight included in BBC's Merlin, so a 'nod' to Gwaine.

Eirian – Welsh. Means 'splendid, bright'. Again, I'm leaning towards Er-ian rather than Ee-rian but I'm not keen on the spelling Erian.

Gayle – Irish/Gaelic/Old English. Variant spelling: Gale, Gaile. Although often associated with a girl's name this is a unisex name meaning 'foreigner', 'cheerful/happy' or if thought to be from Abigail, 'father rejoicing'.

Cayde- Scottish/Old English/Celtic. Variants include Kaide, Kayde, Cade, Caden. Can be linked to Cadell. Means 'from the wetlands', 'round/cask', 'companion', 'fighter'

There's a poll here if you'd like to give your opinion on the names :D

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Comments

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

I've always believed that Myers-Briggs is a great way to build depth into your character. It's also a good way to help envision how different characters will interact.

I just recommended the name Sorley to my kid. It's a kenning. Amusingly, he really loved the word "Kenning" as a name.

A very common kenning is "window" -- it means "wind-eye."

Sorley is an Anglicized form of the Irish and Scottish Gaelic Somhairle, which means "summer led" and is a kenning for "viking".

[meridian_rose]

Thanks so much for your input - and what a great link that is :D I've seen Sorley as Summer-led or similar, but never that it is referring to 'viking'!

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

I love all personality tests and set-ups, so I think the Myers-Briggs is very helpful :D (I also typically think about astrological sign; since he's an extrovert, I'd guess an air or fire sign. He sounds like a fire sign with what you have so far, but of course it's hard to say.)

I suppose I'd better give my name-opinions in the poll. I like Sulley and Delainey best, I think.

[meridian_rose]

It's a new thing for me to try, the Myers-Briggs tests, but if I get a good mix of personalities showing up, I'll know I'm getting it right :D

Fire sign? Oh, yes, I'd agree with that :D

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

Well, you already know my opinion on this but I'll still comment. ;P

I love Gayle (yes, I remember your Gale from Alaric verse but it's spelled differently so it doesn't count as the same name :D) and I think I like Caden (and its variants). It's a cool strong name (as I perceive it) :D

For some reason I'm not much impressed with Sully and some such. I don't know why. It's illogical. But if had to choose between the variants I'd go for Sullivan and Sulley for short.

Also I've found this name... Grimshaw. IDEK why I like it so much... there's something about it... O_o so I thought no harm in mentioning, right? :D
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Grimshaw
http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Grimshaw

[meridian_rose]

Thank you for commenting here too :D I'll definitely check out those links.

BTW, you gave me a really good link for character sheets, which had a Myers-Brigg link as part of the details you could fill in for the characters. I've looked in my email, bookmarks, delicious and To Read and to my shame I can't find it anywhere. Could you please give it to me again?

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

Do you mean this one?
http://www.panix.com/~felicia/character/character.php

Also there was this link that I believe I stole from Riona...
http://www.heretocreate.com/2007/11/01/resources-for-fiction-writing/

[meridian_rose]

Yes, that first one is what I was looking for. And I did have it marked to read apparently (icon is lit up in my address bar) but I have so many pages of To Read links that I couldn't find it *facepalm* I've bookmarked and tagged it this time! Thank you :D

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

I randomly stumbled upon another name I find cool. Corrigan, Corrie for short. Means 'spear'.
http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Corrigan

Thought I'd share. :D If it's okay... O_O

[meridian_rose]

It's suitable but...still not the one. *hangs head in shame*

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

Despair not! The battle isn't over yet! :D

[meridian_rose]

LOL, I was hoping it might come to me in a dream or something. Which would be more possible if I was sleeping properly this week, but the weird hot and cold fluctuations are giving me issues and I'm not sleeping well at all.
I may have to broaden my search and choose something that isn't Celtic at all, so long as it seems like The One.

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

Well, I think it's okay for a rogue to have a non-celtic name. He's a rogue after all. :D

And I'm sorry to hear you're not sleeping well. *HUGS* Hope you feel better soon, bb! ♥♥♥

Is it alright if I keep dumping random names on you? I'm not annoying you?

[meridian_rose]

Thank you :D I'm not at the GAH SLEEP NEED SLEEP stage yet, and it's going to be cooler tonight so I'll probably be okay.

No, feel free, so long as you're not frustrated by my fussiness! Even if you don't hit on the exact one, you may well spur my subconscious to a new idea :D

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

*HUGS* Sleep is good. :D

I understand fussiness very well, don't worry about it. :D I'll keep my eyes open for options. Never know where you might find something useful. :D

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

Here's a bunch of names for you to turn down. :D The more names get rejected the better. As one smart man used to tell us, if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. :D In this case - the One True Name. :D

Leslie/Lezly/Lezley or some such. Unisex. Scottish and Gaelic origin. Means "holly garden" or "the gray castle". (Also cause Leslie Nielsen, gods, how I loved him!)
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Leslie

Tracey. Unisex. Irish, Gaelic. Means "warlike".
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Tracey

And here's an R name again...

Radley/Radleigh. Old English. Means "meadow of reeds; red meadow".
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Radley

Or as a variant - Riddley. Reminiscent of the word "riddle" which might relate to the "hidden depth" aspect of the character.
(Also because of Ridley Scott. 'Alien' was a super cool movie! :D)

Aaaand I'm out of ideas for the moment. But I'll be back! :D That if you want me to... of course... *anxiety-catting*

ETA. I renewed my shaman icon to work magic better.

[meridian_rose]

Thanks, I'll mull them over. Maybe the shaman icon will work!

I'm seriously considering rewriting and even renaming Ryan, so that would mean another R would be okay :D

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

Hm... renaming Ryan might work. :D

If it makes you feel better I think I'll go back and change Faith's last name because it no longer feels right... so I have naming issues too! :D

Come, oh elusive One True Name! Come!
*shaman dance*

[meridian_rose]

Let me know how you get on with Faith's surname!

Also, because I don't say it enough, thank you. As I was writing in a reply to one of Riona's comments, the characters have changed somewhat since those first couple of fics, and they and the story continue to develop and shift which is good thing, I'm just not used to sticking with a story this long and having to do the work.

Thank you so much for sticking with me and encouraging me. I like to think I'm purely 'introvert' and 'reflector' but without some support I tend to give up on things. It's great having people to discuss fic with :D HUGS.

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

I think it's Wilson. Faith Wilson. Faith turned out to be much tougher than I had previously believed and this name seems stronger to me somehow... What do you think? O_O

BB! *HUGS TIGHT* It's a great pleasure to follow your stories! And a great honor to be allowed to peek "behind the curtains". World-building and character-building are a fascinating process to witness!
Also when you get published I'll get to proudly say "I read it first!" :D
*FLAILS*
BB, you're awesome!

How do you find Dacey for the Leo-guy? Unisex. Irish Gaelic. Means "southerner". Lots of spelling variants.
http://www.babynamespedia.com/meaning/Dacey/m

How's your quest going? :D

[meridian_rose]

If it feels right, then it's right :D Maybe you can 'live with it' for a while and see it does sound right whenever you write it.

Dacey – mental image is that he's a long-haired cowboy in a romance novel :D

Here's where I think the problem is.
I think he looks like a Donovan, Delainey, Sullivan.
But he seems like an Elian, Gayle, Flynn.
I found the site I was looking for - http://www.nymbler.com/ lets you block or like names and choose up to six names for inspiration, and then keeps generating names that are in some way similar to those 'inspirational' names.
http://www.magicbabynames.com/ is another site like this.
Those sites have come up with names like Hunter, Jace (I do like Jayce but not for this character), McCoy, Kilian, Cordell.
Oddly Ryan and Eion also pop up! Ryan especially when I changed the search to Katerina, Honor, Cal, Tara. As if the name does fit within the group. IDEK anymore!

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

I don't use Faith's surname very often, and there's no hurry, so I'll think more about it, yes. :D Thank you! :D

Can the Leo-guy have two names? One real name, which he keeps in secret for some reason (dark past? someone's out to get him?) and which we'll find out later, and one fake which he gives to everyone?

Ryan fits within the group. Does it fit the character when he's by himself?

Ooh, these are very helpful sites! Thanks for the links!! :D

[meridian_rose]

Sure he can. It makes sense to me that he has aliases because of ~reasons. I worry about the disappointment factor though, that people have an idea in their heads of who he is and the later name won't fit. I don't care what Rapunzel thinks, I still prefer Flynn Rider to Eugene! :P

I need to 'recast' Ryan and pin down some details of his life and maybe then we'll see. Because I don't see him as clearly as the others.

Awesome, glad I could help :D

[dorothydeath.livejournal.com]

I think every name, real or fake, is just another facet of a character. The aliases we choose for ourselves tell many things about us because we choose this one over that one and it means something.
Eugene is who the character was born as. Flynn Rider is who he wanted to be and who he chose to be. Though Eugene is still a part of him I believe. He's the mixture of the two. Sometimes one side prevails over the other but both are still there.

And if the reader dislikes one of the names, well, they can always call the character by whatever name they like best. And write meta/fanfic about how this name suits the character more than than one. And other people will argue exactly the opposite. But discussions and (civilized) arguments always make fandom fun imho. :D So it's not a bad thing at all. It's inspiring and thought-provoking I'd say. :D

Ooh, will we get to see Ryan's backstory then? :D Or/and his POV, maybe, to learn how he reacts to situations and how he looks at things? :D

[meridian_rose]

I need to give him more backstory first :D
But that's a great idea. Maybe show how he managed to impress Tara enough that she recommended him to Kat.