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source: http://blog.nanowrimo.org/post/83105883657/ask-an-author-how-do-you-come-up-with-good

How do you come up with good character names that aren’t boring, but aren’t ridiculous at the same time? — infinitycharacters

There are tons of name-your-baby web sites that provide first names (often sortable by country-of-origin), and an equal number of genealogy sites that will provide last names. Google “[name] [first/last name] origin.”  If you are writing a present-day, real-world story, this is often all you need.

Historical or alternate-history settings require a little more research, as “favorite” names tend to vary a lot from century to century; for these, check character lists for fiction written in that century, or make yourself a list of actual famous people born at that time and place. This will give you a list of first and last names that you can recombine, and perhaps an indication of the sorts of names not on the list that you can use. You can also check the origins and development of modern names—Mark, as a first name, was Marcus or Markos in the Roman Empire.

If you are inventing your own world, it is a good idea to study some of the above sources to get a feel for how names change over time and cultures. (John, Giovanni, Ioannes, Hans, and Juan are all cited as variations of the same name, for instance.) Then decide if your imaginary cultures have language bases that are similar to real-life countries, whether you want to have echoes of those countries in your imaginary world, and how strong you want the echoes to be.

If you want echoes, use real but obscure names from those countries, or start with a real name and change a letter or two. Or you can break down lists of actual names into syllables and recombine them. There are also online naming programs that you can give a set of rules (like “no double letters” or “w is a vowel” or “all names are two syllables plus –ich or –ora”) that will generate a screen full of names from which you can choose the ones that look and sound right to you.

Make sure any imaginary names are pronounceable, and try not to give two characters in the same book names that are too similar (some recommend not having any first names that begin with the same letter).

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source: http://blog.nanowrimo.org/post/62424440795/nano-prep-using-setting-to-reinforce-your

It’s time to really nail down some of your novel’s settings. The setting is where and when your novel takes place. Of course, many novels have more than one setting, ranging from the general (a city, country, or world 100 years ago) to the specific (a character’s house or room during the Super Bowl). What’s great about setting is that you can use it to mirror or reinforce your characters.

For example, if you are writing about a mysterious person, you might place him or her in a dark, creepy mansion on a hill outside of town. Or, if one of your characters is feeling trapped in his or her life, he or she might live in a small town in the middle of nowhere.

Here’s us just telling you about Larry:

Larry was having a hard time. He felt sad and trapped. He was once a famous author, but he hadn’t written a word for years.

And here’s us telling you about Larry, but through the space that he is living in:

Larry’s apartment was less of a living space than a glorified closet. The bathroom was just big enough to sit on the toilet without having his knees touch the sink, and the window was more like a ship’s porthole. The bed was so small his feet hung over the edge, and there was really not much to do but watch static on the television. The sound of that static often kept Larry company late into the night.

The place did not have a kitchen, so he bought a camping hotplate to make his single-serving meals. He ate the same thing every night, but he did not seem to mind the monotony of his repeated dinner of rice, wilted spinach, and baked beans or the peculiar odor that the beans left on his sheets.

The only item on the wall of Larry’s apartment was a framed, yellowed copy of the New York Times Best Seller list from 16 years ago. Larry’s name was at the top of it. Below the newspaper clipping, on Larry’s desk, sat an old, dusty typewriter and an even dustier stack of blank paper.

Larry doesn’t even have to speak for himself; his apartment speaks for him.

For each of the following characters, try to come up with a setting that will reflect or reinforce what you imagine about them. You’ll start by thinking about characters we made up, and then move into writing about some of your own.

As you write, try to be as detailed as possible. Don’t forget colors, sounds, and even smells.

A shy teenage girl who’s starting to come out of her shell:

A superhero who has lost his or her powers:

A corrupt politician:

An old, lonely woman:

Your protagonist:

Your antagonist:

One of your supporting characters:

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source: blog.nanowrimo.org

With all of the existing imaginary worlds out there, how do you create a world that’s unique to your own story? — Katie Spektor

On the surface, this seems like a question oriented towards science fiction and fantasy novels. But, in fact, it’s applicable to any genre. Novel writing is, first and foremost, world building. You may be building a world ruled by the electric sheep from android dreams or you might be building a world that looks very similar to our own. Regardless, writing a novel is about creating a landscape, populating it, setting the rules, and telling the stories that bubble up to the surface.

Whatever your world may be, it has to be one that is uniquely yours. Your world can be influenced by other fictional worlds. But in order for the world to be successful it should be one that you have created and (importantly) one that you will feel comfortable living in for the next few years.

Spend some time in your world before you start writing, give yourself the space to imagine who lives there, what the air smells like, how hard the sun beats down. Build the world out in your mind before putting it down on the page. Because once you start writing, the demands of story start to take over.

And, if at all possible, try not to think about the market (whether people want to buy a book about talking hippopotamuses or a slightly noirish remake of Garfield). Try not to let all the vampires, werewolves, and plucky dystopian heroines influence your world building. A world that’s unique to you will be more enjoyable to write about and, ultimately, it will produce a book that’s more enjoyable to read.

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Okay, so you know who your characters are. Excellent. Now it is time to figure out what your characters are going to do.

Most stories are ultimately about the same thing—the journey a protagonist goes on to get what he or she wants. Whether his or her goal is to get the girl or cure cancer, the journey is never easy, and your character will encounter many setbacks along the way. Though they’re painful for your protagonist, these obstacles are what will make your novel exciting to read.

Imagine a story about Jim who wants a sandwich more than anything in the world. How boring would the story be if all Jim had to do was walk from his bedroom to the kitchen, make a sandwich, and then eat it? That story is so uneventful it can be told in one sentence. But what if Jim is seriously afraid of the dark, the power is out in his house, and he has to walk down a dark hallway to get to the kitchen? And, once there, he has to fight his bratty younger sister, Emily, for the last slice of roast beef.

Though it may be simple, this story has both external conflict and internal conflict.

External Conflict
The external conflict is the one between a protagonist and antagonist.

In the above story, the protagonist Jim has a goal (to eat a sandwich), but a motivated antagonist Emily has her own agenda (to also eat a sandwich). The struggle between Jim and Emily over the last slice of roast beef is the external conflict in this story.

Internal Conflict
The internal conflicts are the fears and insecurities that a protagonist has to overcome in order to get what he or she wants.

In the story above, Jim has to overcome his fear of the dark in order to get the sandwich he wants so badly.

If you have completed your character questionnaires, you already know a good amount about the major players in your novel. Now it’s time to answer some deeper questions about your characters’ hopes and fears in order to create the conflicts that will make your novel interesting.

Take out and review your character questionnaires, then fill in the blanks below.

Your Protagonist

1. More than anything in the world, my protagonist wants:

2. But he/she is afraid of:

3. And his/her greatest weakness is (is it something like “falling in love too easily” or “crossbows”?):

Physical Antagonist
Complete this section if you have a physical antagonist.

More than anything in the world, my antagonist wants (this can be as simple as humiliating the protagonist or something a little more ambitious like world domination):

1. My antagonist’s “beef” with the protagonist is:

2. My antagonist is afraid of (long-haired bunnies?):

3. His/her/its greatest weakness is:

Abstract Antagonist
Complete this section if you have an abstract antagonist.

1. The antagonist in my novel is not a living, breathing being. It is:

2. If my protagonist does not battle against this antagonist, it will eventually (ruin his or her life or cause death?):

3. My protagonist is battling against this antagonist by:

Congratulations! You now have the two basic ingredients for an excellent story: external conflict and internal conflict. Know that your internal and external conflicts will overlap throughout your novel. Once your characters find out about each others’ fears and weaknesses, you better believe they will use them against each other mercilessly as they fight to make their dreams come true.

source: blog.nanowrimo.org

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Construct the Cannon. You might have already answered the question “What does your main character want more than anything else?” This question is so important that you’ll be answering it for all of your characters, including your villain. This will give you enough subplots for a trilogy!

Whether it’s true love, sweet revenge, or a cupcake-filled swimming pool, a character’s greatest desire is the cannon that propels her toward her destiny.

Build the mountain. If you want to write a book people will actually read instead of use as a face pillow, you’re going to have to inflict some pain on the character you’ve grown to love.

Create conflict, suspense, and heart-wrenching drama by stacking a mountain of setbacks (fears, weaknesses, villains, spider monkeys) in front of your protagonist. That way, when your protagonist finally does find the person, planet, or swimming pool of her dreams, it will be so much more satisfying!

Light the fuse. Like you or me, your main character is a creature of habit. In order to start him on his quest, you’ll need to literally light a fire beneath him. This event ignites the fuse on your character’s cannon; it’s the phone call from an old lover, the tragic loss, the trip to Vegas. It’s what makes it impossible for your main character to continue in his old ways.

Plot the problems. Conflict is the fuel that moves your plot forward. And we are not talking about just one big blowout at your climax. Exciting plots have characters encountering problems right from the get-go.

Think of the last comedy you saw. We bet our bottom dollar that the main character had to cleverly get himself out of one pickle after another until he had to wiggle his way out of the there’s-no-way-he’s-going-to-get-himself-out-of-this-pickle pickle at the climax of the film. The same should go for your book. Creating mini-problems to build up to the mega-problem is the best way to keep readers reading.

Meet him or her on the other side. The person that you load into the cannon at the start of your novel will be much different from the person you meet at the end, after she’s reached the other side of the mountain.

At the beginning, your protagonist may be a sad and reclusive computer nerd, but after saving the world from a nuclear holocaust she becomes a confident warrior. How your main character changes in your book might not be as simplistic as nerd to superhero, but it’s important that he or she does change and that your readers see the transformation unfold along the course of your novel.

Excerpted by Michael Adamson

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46-Question Character Questionnaire

1. Name

2. Age

3. Height

4. Eye color

5. Physical appearance

6. Strange or unique physical attributes

7. Favorite clothing style/outfit

8. Where does he or she live? What is it like there?

9. Defining gestures/movements (i.e., curling his or her lip when he or she speaks, always keeping his or her eyes on the ground, etc.)

10. Things about his or her appearance he or she would most like to change

11. Speaking style (fast, talkative, monotone, etc.)

12. Pet peeves

13. Fondest memory

14. Hobbies/interests

15. Special skills/abilities

16. Insecurities

17. Quirks/eccentricities

18. Temperament (easygoing, easily angered, etc.)

19. Negative traits

20. Things that upset him or her

21. Things that embarrass him or her

22. This character is highly opinionated about

23. Any phobias?

24. Things that make him or her happy

25. Family (describe)

26. Deepest, darkest secret

27. Reason he or she kept this secret for so long

28. Other people’s opinions of this character (What do people like about this character? What do they dislike about this character?)

29. Favorite bands/songs/type of music

30. Favorite movies

31. Favorite TV shows

32. Favorite books

33. Favorite foods

34. Favorite sports/sports teams

35. Political views

36. Religion/philosophy of life

37. Physical health

38. Dream vacation

39. Description of his or her house

40. Description of his or her bedroom

41. Any pets?

42. Best thing that has ever happened to this character

43. Worst thing that has ever happened to this character

44. Superstitions

45. Three words to describe this character

46. If a song played every time this character walked into the room, what song would it be?

[source: blog.nanowrimo.org]