And CassaStorm’s release week kicks off with prizes every day! Comment between September 16 and 20 to enter. (Ends 6:00 pm EST Sunday, September 22.)
Prizes include:
Cassa mousepad
Cassa Universe poster
Cassa magnet
Cassa mug
Autographed copy of CassaStorm
One person will be randomly selected each day and the five names will be drawn from a hat – first person gets first choice and so on.
This week I will be featuring my tour, unique Cassa facts, trivia, and prizes every day. Plus others are announcing CassaStorm’s release, and almost every post features a unique interview question. List of participants on the CassaStorm Page. So join the fun!
Science Fiction and Movie News
Caught this at Blastr: Director Roland Emmerich has been trying to come up with a script for Isaac Asimov's Foundation for years, and now is trying to change the story to fit a mini-series. You read that right – Emmerich/Asimov. Fans, you should be very afraid…
Ninja News
Jennifer Hillier posted about a great website called Discover Criminal Justice for anyone writing about criminal justice programs.
Movie Review
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
I went into this one with very low expectations. To my surprise, I was entertained. It’s more fun than a Hasbro movie has a right to be. Enjoyable performances and great action scenes. It won’t win any Oscars, but it is a fun action film worthy of a rental.
CassaFacts
Creating character names!
Byron, Bassa, and Athee were the original names from the manuscript and short stories. (Outside of Athee, I have no idea how I chose them. Or why one name is a real name. Just go with me on this.) All of the other names I had to create.
One thing that is often frustrating about science fiction and fantasy is difficult to pronounce names. Or really long names. This makes it difficult for readers to connect to the characters and keep track of everyone. I wanted to keep mine short and simple.
Most writers take their time choosing names. Often the names will have a great significance. Or they fit the time period. They aren’t taken lightly though.
Know how I come up with names? I take about twenty minutes and brainstorm alien sounding names, trying to prevent more than one character’s name from starting with the same letter in the alphabet. (Byron and Bassa were already named – you’ll just have to forgive me for that.) Then I run through my cast of characters and match them up, filling in the blanks. Takes about ten minutes.
Yes, that quickly. And yes, I am filling in blanks. I don’t name them until after the first draft. Sometimes later! Yes, that’s a lot of blanks. No, I’ve never placed a name in the wrong place, although I have missed some blank spaces before. (My test readers catch those. My critique partners are probably grateful for that!)
It does seem like an odd way to do it, but I do better matching the name to the personality than the other way around. And so far I’ve managed to keep the names simple and easy to pronounce.
Except for Ernx – want to take a stab at that one?
What’s your process for selecting names?
Cassa Trivia Answers
1 – Who was Byron’s first navigator? Trindel
2 – What was Athee’s relationship to Prefect Orellen? She’s his niece
3 – Who was Byron’s Cosbolt pilot friend in all three books? Ernx (There’s that name again!)
4 – What was the name of the Flagship in CassaStar? Sorenthia
5 – What is the name of Athee’s home world? Tgren
What do you think about the Emmerich/Asimov combination? Following Hart’s series? Get the trivia right? And how do you go about selecting character names? Want to take a stab at pronouncing Ernx...?
Be sure to visit the wonderful Lynda Young!
