How fantasy and science fiction writers choose character and place names

Close up photo of scrabble tiles on a table spelling QWEN
Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.com

Last year I was on a panel at Bristolcon titled What’s in a Name? about fantasy and sci-fi names, how authors create them, and what their significance can be. I’ve been wanting to write a post on the topic ever since, since not only did the other panellists make some really interesting points, but in preparation for it I wrote notes on way more things than I would ever have time to mention, and I justified the indulgence by telling myself I’d turn it into a blog post later. Now that October is nearly upon us again, and the next Bristolcon looms, I thought I’d finally pull out those notes and dive a little deeper.

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