...what's in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
Or so says Shakespeare, but I've never quite agreed.

I believe names have power, and therefore I take great care when selecting them for my characters.

Being a fantasy writer, I'm granted a greater freedom than most when it comes to name creation. And thank goodness! In fantasy, you're not restrained by rules. You can invent names, change the traditional, make things more magickal.

I like my names to mean something, and to have special relevance to my characters. I've been known to frequent name websites (20000-NAMES.COM is a good one) and flick through books, searching for something with magickal connotations, or simply something that sounds unusual.

Disclosing a couple of my characters' names from THE BLOOD DRAGON might make the easiest example.
Many of my characters are witches, and their names all pertain to their individual magick. Yarrow (meaning: a medicinal herb) is a healer witch. Sera (meaning: fire) can conjure flames.

The guards in my book all have names that relate to weaponry: Archer, Hunter, Lance. Or they have names that mean something strong: Art (meaning: bear man), Killian (meaning: little warrior).

The Blood Dragon's human name (which I will skirt around unapologetically because...spoilers), literally means red dragon.

My main character (who, despite the title of my book, is not the Blood Dragon), possesses a name of my own creation - which will remain a secret...because again...spoilers...
Since I invented her name, I also got the privilege of inventing its meaning. And so, my heroine's name means Saviour.

Of course, for the most part, I'm the only one aware of the meaning behind any of their names, but for me as an author, I feel that knowing this detail subtly - and sometimes tremendously - impacts my writing, and the way my characters develop and come to influence the story.

I know my main character wouldn't be the same if she had a different name. She wouldn't have the sense of mystery that surrounds her, or the strength that sustains her, or the compassion that compels every decision she makes throughout the story.

There's a Joni Mitchell song called "Little Green" that makes this point about names shaping a person so very well. The lyrics say:
"Call her Green, so the winters cannot fade her.
Call her Green, for the children who made her.
Little Green - be a gypsy dancer."

Names are so significant to writing.

I bet there's not a single author in history that has selected a name for their character with a "that will do" attitude.
Think of some of your favourite characters from books, or even films. Who are they? Would the story you know them from feel the same if they were named something else?

Charles Dickens is a good example. The Artful Dodger, Fagin, or even Oliver Twist. I'd speculate that the book wouldn't have had quite the same reception if he were named Oliver Brown.

As a writer, I don't think it matters how you get to that name, as long as it feels right! And who knows when or where inspiration may strike!

Jacqueline Wilson gave an interview about how she came up with Tracy Beaker's name: "I was lying back in my bath one day, thinking about this brand new story that I wanted to write about a little girl in a children's home, desperate to be fostered. And I was trying to think what her name would be. I knew I wanted to call her Tracy. It's a lovely modern, bouncy sort of name, but I couldn't think of an appropriate surname for her. So I was looking all round my bathroom for inspiration, and thinking rather madly, should I call her Tracy Soap, Tracy Flannel, Tracy Tap, Tracy Toothbrush, Tracy Toilet. The ideas got sillier and sillier, and I decided, well, I am never gonna find the right sort of inspiration here and now. So I got on with washing myself. I wash my hair, and to rinse off the soap suds I don't have any elaborate shower attachment, I just keep an old beaker on the end of the bath, pull it under the hot tap and then just rinse my hair. So I picked up my beaker, and then looked at it, and said: Tracy Beaker. And there was something about the name that made a little tingle go down my back." (click HERE to watch this interview)

Evidence that inspiration truly is everywhere!

~Zuzu

find me on Facebook @zuzuspages

...a precocious book challenge (2019 edition)

Welcome back, or, if you're only just finding me, welcome to my humble blog.

Having introduced myself, and hopefully intrigued you with my first blog instalment, I find myself wanting to remain mysterious for one more week, and instead present to you the results of my 2019 precocious FIFTY BOOK CHALLENGE.

This was a challenge I have only myself to blame for, having set it at the start of 2019 after realising how few books I consumed the previous year.

Fifty seemed like a good round number. Ambitious, but achievable. But I was wrong. For the logistics of this challenge are of course that there are only fifty-two weeks in a year, meaning I had to read a book per week, an impossibility when your schedule is as erratic as mine.

And so, I regret to put before you...my triumphant failure, and the confession that I am stubborn enough to have set myself the same ridiculous challenge for 2020! (I'll keep you posted)

Below are the thirty-five books I successfully managed to read in 2019:

1. Wee Free Men by Terry  Pratchett

2. A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

3. The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe

4. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking Series) by Patrick Ness

5. The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking Series) by Patrick Ness

6. Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking Series) by Patrick Ness

7. Witchsign by Den Patrick

8. The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth

9. Caraval (Caraval: book one) by Stephanie Garber

10. Legendary (Caraval: book two) by Stephanie Garber

11. Finale (Caraval: book three) by Stephanie Garber

12. The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak

13. The Invisible Library by Geneviere Cogman

14. The Taxidermists Daugher by Kate Mosse

15. The Witches Daughter by Paula Brackston

16. Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm book one)

17. Fire by Kristin Cashore (Graceling Realm book two)

18. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore ( Graceling Realm book three)

19. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

20. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

21. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (book one)

21. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor (book two)

23. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor (book three)

24. Capricorn - the art of living by your star sign by Sally Kirkman

25. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

26. The Girl in Red by Christina Henry

27. Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Page

28. The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Page

29. The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

30. The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du  Maurier

31. The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

32. The Beast's Heart by Leife Shallcross

33. Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippincott

34. Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman

35. The Way Past Winter by Kiran Millwood Hardgrave


I thoroughly recommend them all!
~ Zuzu


Psssst…
find me on Facebook @zuzuspages
https://www.facebook.com/zuzuspages/

...a surreptitious little blog

Ahhh…so you've found me?
Welcome to my surreptitious little blog, Zuzu's Pages, a humble space within the confines of which I hope to share my love of books with you and tentatively introduce myself as an aspiring author...tentatively only because I am unused to calling myself such.

I am not yet a writer by profession, but at the grand old age of 26 (old soul you see), I have the equally amazing privilege of calling myself a performer. With this profession comes a deep love of words and an appreciation for all genres of storytelling, be they written, spoken, or sung. I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by eloquent language and lyrics that inspire me everyday. It's a wonderful and erratic career, and I must say it's been brilliant for building me an armour for rejection. It's protected me from all the disheartening emails you receive when you first start submitting your manuscript to agents and publishers.

I am proud to say, my first novel, THE BLOOD DRAGON, is in its second year of completion, but sadly its eighth month of rejection (a horrible, negative word for which I wish a better synonym existed).

Feedback from agents has been sparse, but when I do receive it, I snatch it up like a hungry wolf and carry it into a safe corner to savour in solitude.
When receiving positive feedback attached to a rejection, you begin to wonder what you're doing wrong. But the simple fact is that my book just wasn't right for that particular agent, and, as they tell me, they didn't feel passionate enough about it to offer me representation.
And how can I begrudge that?
I'm glad that they rejected it, because I couldn't accept representation from anyone that didn't believe in my book as wholeheartedly as I do. And I do. I truly do believe in my story, and in the fictional world that I've created. It's a wonderful one, glowing with colourful characters; its skies are crowded with witch-spirits and dragons, it's waters run deep and desolate, and it's very core sparkles with gold flecks that are indisputably magick.

Perhaps in time I will tell you more about it, and maybe even insert a couple of extracts. But until then, thank you for reading. Thank you sincerely for your interest. I'm excited by this writing project, even if it only reaches a few marvelous people.

~ Zuzu