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Unusual Character Names for Writers
 
 

Unusual Character Names for Writers [Kindle Edition]

Stewart Ferris

Kindle Price: £1.96 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
* Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.



Product Description

Product Description

A work of fiction can be enriched and enlivened by the use of unusual and interesting character names. Meanings behind names that are symbolic of a character’s situation or personality can add depth to the text. Names that are rarely used in literature, film and other media can help to make your work stand out by making it seem fresh, original and memorable. Each of the names in this book has been carefully researched and selected for its originality, rarity, beauty, poetry, meaning, symbolism, humour, or for its downright weirdness.

When a celebrity's first name is sufficient for everyone to know who it is, that's the sign of an unusual name. Ringo doesn't need 'Starr'. Elvis didn't need 'Presley'. If you create a fictional character so successful that its first name has the same effect then you know you've done well.

In deciding what constitutes an 'unusual' name (in the context of English-speaking countries), it would have been easy simply to raid the phone books of exotic lands and fill this tome with Chinese, African and Inuit names. Whilst there are inevitably many names that are of foreign origin in this collection, what I have attempted to do is to restrict the listings to those names which have some degree of familiarity due to their relevance to the culture and history of English-speaking lands.

There are many wonderful names that are familiar to us from the works of Shakespeare yet which rarely see the light of day in the modern world. There are historic people - from the Romans to the Victorians - whose names trip off the tongue in a delightful way when rediscovered. There are Biblical names that are wonderfully evocative and poetic. Additionally, there is a new category of unusual names spawned by celebrities who seem to have a knack for finding (or coining) bizarre and interesting names for their children.

Download this great eBook now and give your characters sizzlingly hot names!

*** Each name in this eBook is accompanied by information about its geographical origin, its symbolic meaning, examples of previous usage in literature and real life, as well as nicknames that other characters can use to refer to them.***

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 208 KB
  • Print Length: 382 pages
  • Publisher: Stewart Ferris (8 April 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B004VWL1B0
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #177,470 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

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Amazon.com: 1.0 out of 5 stars  1 review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth it. 1 Mar 2012
By Johnathan T. Borden - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase
Not quite what I had in mind. When I write I am always at a loss for names. I purchased this book on my iPod because I always have it with me when I write and thought it would be a good reference for names but it was not. I don't really feel that the content that is offered here is worth the five dollars I paid considering a free Google search will give you a database of thousands of names to use and this book only has a few hundred, if that.

Each page contains only a single name. I thought this had something to do with my iPod screen being so small and changing the format so I downloaded it through the cloud to my Kindle Fire but it was the same. A very short introduction and then one name per page after that. There is a description given with each name that goes over it's origin and meaning in a short paragraph and a couple of potential nicknames for the name at the bottom. Some of the nicknames are so bad it sounds like something a child would nickname someone and for the most part I think they are unusable.

Another problem I had with the book is that most of the names are loaded. What I mean by this is they have such a reputation of being associated with a famous figure either fictional or real that it would cause trouble trying to use them in a novel. Unless you are writing in the genre of Bizarro fiction (real genre by the way) it would be hard to use names like Elvis; Hannibal, Icarus, Ebeneezer, Jesus, Odysseus, Ulysses, Rameses, Tutankhamen, Cleopatra, Beyoncé , Cinderella, Oprah, Constantine, Ebeneezer, and Tinkerbell...need I say more?

There is also a collection of celebrity baby names which are weird enough in their own right but have no right to be placed in a serious novel, and who would want to? Would you ever consider naming one of your characters Audio Science, Blanket, Moon Unit, or Apple? I didn't think so. Then there are those other names like Camera, Betty Kitten, Champagne, and the like which I just can not take or even consider using for a novel.

It wouldn't be so bad if not for all the famous loaded names which render most of them unusable without readers expecting certain traits from a character based off the association. Still, with one name per page, there is more white space than anything else.

I hate having to give a book a one star rating but there isn't much I like about the book. It does have a few good names thrown in with the mix but you could have found those online for free. I would suggest not buying this book. If you are looking for a source of names for characters buy one of those books of baby names. Some have hundreds of thousands of names to use and have a lot more content for the money.
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