Friday, February 17, 2012

Feature & Follow Friday (9)

Welcome, book lovers! We had to skip a Friday or two, but not because we don't enjoy spending them with you. Life sometimes just gets in your way. Once more, it was a fabulous week for The Nocturnal Library - this week, we published an interview with the amazing YA author Swati Avasthi. To enter the giveaway of her touching book, Split, just click on the sidebar button. But let's get down to why we're really here.

This is our ninth Follow My Book Blog Friday, hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. Click on the image to learn more.



Q: BeefcakeandBabes Asks: I like unique names for characters and am looking forward to coming up with some when I start writing. What’s the most unique character name you’ve come across?

I have a confession to make: I am horrible with names. I've been known to forget the name of a character as soon as I finish the book, or even sooner. I simply read too much to remember them all. To answer this question, I had to go back to our Faves of TwentyEleven post to see what I wrote there. Fortunately, I agree with myself this time. :) My favorite character names are usually simple and spelled the regular way. I liked Deirdre Monaghan from Maggie Stiefvater's Lament a lot. On the other, more original side, I really love the name Sirantha Jax from Ann Aguirre's Grimspace. I absolutely hated the name Rebekkah from Melissa Marr's Graveminder, obviously because of the spelling. I wasn't crazy about Daemon from Obsidian either, but let's keep that one a secret or someone might kill me in a slow and excruciatingly painful way.


And that's it for today, my lovelies. Lisa will probably have her own answer to write when she can. If you follow us on Twitter and Facebook, we will follow you back right away. Just please, please, please, leave us a note on Facebook saying so, especially if you're using your personal account to follow. We sometimes simply don't know who to follow back.
Happy Friday, darlings. Until next time!




Lisa *comes huffing and puffing*
....ok, I had to check Faves of 2011, too. I have to agree with Maja and say that Sirantha Jax is probably the coolest name I've encountered so far in fiction.
But if you're looking for names, whatever name you will choose for you characters, please keep these simple guidelines in mind:
- do not, ever, call your character with the name of a cigarette brand (Merit, Camel and so on)
- do not, ever, call you character with the name of an animal, especially tiny and obnoxious ones (Cricket).
You can call your dogs like that, not your characters.
Ciao!


28 comments:

  1. Those are certainly original. Good choices.

    Here's my Friday Hop. Stop by if you get a chance.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sirantha?!? That is different! Never ever heard that one. Deirdre reminds me of a soap opera star over here I'm not fond of so I cringe a little when I hear it (total personal problem on my part).

    I'm going to have to read Obsidian one of these days if it has such rabid fans :)

    have a great weekend!! My FF

    Kristin @myparahangover

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for popping by my blog, I swore I was a follower of yours already but it seems not - sorry about that, and definitely fixed now! :)

    Interesting choices, I've not read any of those books (which shames me haha) so the names elicit a lot of pictures in my head. As for Rebekkah, I can't stand when it's common names spelled uncommon ways - it feels like people are doing it just to be different and it's quite annoying!

    Happy Friday!
    Ashley @ Ashley Loves Books

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for stopping by as always. I've heard a couple of people mention Sirantha Jax tonight, quite like the name myself ... for pets. Anyway, just thought I'd check you back happy #ff!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Deirdre Monaghan is a great one! Though I'm certain I'll pronounce it wrong. :P Sirantha Jax is pretty unique too and it doesn't actually sound that strange.

    And Maja..I think it might be ME who has to kill you in a slow and painful way. Daemon is a cool name! ;)

    Have a lovely weekend! :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah man! You're killing me with those names! I liked seeing Rebekah spelled with a "K". Wayyy back in elementary school I knew a girl who spelled her name that way. I think it just looks cool! Daemon looks cool, but a little to close to Demon for my liking! Ha ha!

    Oh well. I sometimes forget names as well, I had to think really long and hard through a headache to think of some names!

    Here's my Friday Hops

    Have a GREAT weekend!

    Old Follower :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. What even is this spelling, Rebekkah? I like this name quite a lot, but with normal spelling!

    Ahhh, Sirantha. I really want to read this book... someday. I was quite put off by Ann Aguirre's other book and so poor Sirantha is waiting for her time to shine. ;)

    Thanks for stopping by. <3

    ReplyDelete
  8. I really like the name Deirdre!

    Thanks for stopping by, I'm following you back.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm not familiar with the series that you mentioned, but interesting names :)
    thanks for the follow! here to return the favor :)
    the header on your blog is very pretty, btw.

    http://inner-aspen.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hahaha, that's some great advice Lisa.

    *frantically does a find and replace on her YA manuscript, for character named Bunny Marlboro*

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for visiting me:)

    I share your enthusiasm for all-things Mircea too :) He's one hot hunk of master vamp.

    I've put Sirantha Jax in my plan for 2012 for my 12x12 Challenge. I said I'd try and step out of the box a little and read something that's not Urban Fantasy for a change. (Even though I've been told Sirantha Jax is written in a very UF style so really it's a total cop out, but hey, I'm trying here!) So I'm really looking forward to it and agree, it is a very cool name.

    I'll look you up on Twitter too :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Funny..Lisa I didn't even think about those characters being named after cigarettes. That was a great question!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for checking out my blog, I followed you back and look forward to your posts!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for stopping by my blog, followed you back.

    I think some names become special because of the characters involved; they become imprinted on our psyche, and find a special place in our hearts. I'll never look at Damon the same way again. :)

    Happy Follow Friday!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I like Lisa's guidelines for naming characters. I also like the name Deirdre from Maggie's books. I think she shortened it to Dee through most of the book, though, right?

    I like the name Brooklyn from the verse novel Chasing Brooklyn.

    I liked Daemon, Maja but I promise I won't hunt you down because you didn't! Haha. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I think Sirantha is just about the most usual I've seen so far...and for Daemon, well I just pictured that cutie from Vampire Diaries. Thanks for hopping by. old follower too.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I think Deirdre is definitely a unique name! New follower!

    Here's my FF:
    http://a-reading-daydreamer.blogspot.com/2012/02/feature-and-follow-friday-1.html

    ReplyDelete
  18. I agree with the name Sirantha Jax, it is quite unique. I love it when authors come up with names that you don't see everywhere else.

    Thanks so much for following my blog! :) I followed back.

    ReplyDelete
  19. LOL it's okay, Maja -- I'm really bad with names too! x) But I think that Deidre is such a sweet pick! I haven't read that series before, but I remember a character from Lauren DeStefano's books being called that and thinking it was so pretty. (On that note, Rhine's name was a gorgeous one too!) And LOL Lisa, your naming guidelines made me laugh -- so true!

    I LOVE both of your book name picks! :) They were all such creative and original ones -- I love it! Hope you guys have an AMAZING weekend! <3

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Maja, I'm dropping by to say thanks for becoming my new follower on http://steepedinbooks.blogspot.com

    I can't think of a single unusual name I like either, except for those from Dickens. I thought Fagin was very appropriately named.

    ReplyDelete
  21. 3. Don't give your characters random words spelled backwards for names? :) thank you kindly for stopping by! :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Great Picks!! Thanks for sharing and for stopping by my blog! Old Follower!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Cigarette brand? Oh, cringe factor. I'm imagining Cricket to be a name for a snitch in some steampunk or even pirate themed books.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks for stopping by. I can get picky about the spelling of names too. Great choices.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thanks for following my blog! I am following back! Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Those are some beautiful names that you chose, I toyed with the idea of including either Hermione Granger from HP or Audrina from My Sweet Audria by V.C. Andrews. I just thought they were beautiful and a little different in a sense. :)

    Great answers. Just hopping on through...

    Suz @ A Soul Unsung
    Don't forget to enter my DRAGONSWOOD GIVEAWAY!
    Follow Friday Hops!
    H A P P Y R E A D I N G & H O P P I N G
    susanhaugland@att.net

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hmm, I haven't read Grimspace yet. To be honest, I hadn't heard much about it before reading this post. I'll definitely have to check it out though. I might just want to read it so I can meet the character Sirantha Jax.

    Old Follower
    Danielle @ Novelly Antithetical

    ReplyDelete
  28. I have to agree there, please never ever name your character after a cig brand. That's just a bad idea! Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for stopping by and commenting. If you're a fellow blogger, I'll visit and return the favor as soon as possible. If your're using Google+ to comment, please make sure that your blog link is clearly visible on your profile.

Unfortunately, this is now an award and tag free blog, but I do thank you for your consideration.