RFLS
2018-04-08, 02:52 PM
I'm not talking about onomatopoeia, or something as direct as a charactonym. It's also not nominative determinism, which is the opposite concept - something or someone grows into a name that is relevant. What I'm talking about is when, generally with a character, you can either make a guess as to their nature just based on how the name sounds, or, at least after the fact, it's very fitting.
For instance, Terry Pratchett was gifted with this. You wouldn't expect Sam Vimes to be a dullard. Ventinari sounds like someone with a Machiavellian bent. Nobby Nobbs sounds like, well, a walking disease. Colon...actually that might be a charactonym.
It's something that most of my favorite authors/screenwriters/etc are good at, and something I struggle with, so I'm hoping that I can find some essays or something similar to learn from about it.
For instance, Terry Pratchett was gifted with this. You wouldn't expect Sam Vimes to be a dullard. Ventinari sounds like someone with a Machiavellian bent. Nobby Nobbs sounds like, well, a walking disease. Colon...actually that might be a charactonym.
It's something that most of my favorite authors/screenwriters/etc are good at, and something I struggle with, so I'm hoping that I can find some essays or something similar to learn from about it.