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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A traveller’s guide to fictional castles

Drawing of a tall gothic castle perched on a steep mountain with pointy spires silhouetted against a stormy nighttime sky
Image source: wailingwizard on Flickr, CC BY‑NC‑ND 2.0

For those of us who like a touch of the magical and the medieval, nothing quite beats a visit to a fictional castle. But with all those trap doors, winding passageways, and changeable stairs, it’s hard to know where to start and how to make the most of your time.

Yes, you may already have Diana Wynne Jones’s The Tough Guide to Fantasyland to help you tour the fantasy realm, but fictional castles are an experience all their own, and are deserving of some closer attention. Plus, let’s face it, the internet really needed another “top ten” list. So here are ten must-see sights and experiences to ensure a memorable, action-packed, and relatively peril-free stay.

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Ways of Measuring Time in High Fantasy

There’s no rule that says Fantasy authors have to avoid clocks and calendars when writing their fictional worlds. Many authors simply stick with seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years.

After all, the 24-hour clock and the Gregorian Calendar pre-date the Middle Ages, so if a fantasy is set on a medieval earth-like world and characters refer to hours and months, it won’t feel immediately anachronistic (though admittedly these measurements wouldn’t have been available in handy wristwatch or smart phone format). Continue reading →

Why the World is Never Round in Fantasyland

I’ve just returned from a round-the-world trip, and all that globe-encircling got me to thinking about the shape of worlds in epic fantasy novels. This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed it, but there’s a rather bizarre and archaic trait almost all fantasy worlds have in common: Continue reading →

Exotic Names: 7 Languages That Inspire Fantasy Authors

You open a book and come across an unusual place or character name. Maybe it’s got some strange consonants packed in. Maybe it even has an apostrophe or two. You’ve got no idea how to pronounce it… but if you’re used to reading fantasy this probably hasn’t fazed you. Exotic invented names are commonplace in this realm.

Some fantasy names might stand out in your memory: perhaps famous ones like Isengard and Mordor, Azkaban and Quidditch, Targaryen and Dothraki. Others might not. Regardless, the majority of them are not as made-up as they seem. Continue reading →

History in the Potterverse and Other Magical Worlds

If you’ve read the Harry Potter series, the name Bathilda Bagshot might be familiar to you. You may even recognise her as the author of Hogwarts, a History, a book to which Harry’s friend Hermione regularly refers in the series. Whenever the characters need to know something about the ancient castle they go to school in, Hermione is there, spouting “historical” facts from Bagshot’s work to help them solve their problems.

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