Character naming - part 2?

I was thinking about a prevoious post of mine, on character naming, more specifically about Bliradella tifanreta and Jack. You could pull two completely different names like those off if there was a large enough difference in their stations in life. (How ever, I would advise a slightly less ridiculous name, for the sake of your reader)

That's what I adore about our world, no matter how much we mess it up, there will always be interesting cultures. Take India, in example. The caste system is rather inspiring. Or Mongolia, or just about any culture you want. Mix and match to your heart's desire, just remembering to keep a bit of logic and reality included.

I feel like I've forgotten something. . .

When the ideas refuse to come

Some people will tell you to set a schedule and stick to it. I can't do that, so this is my piece of advice: Try mixing up your routine. It doesn't have to be major, little things work. In example, I'm currently sitting on the floor as I type. (I brought the key board down with me.)
Maybe try new music, write while standing on your head, sitting upside down in an armchair (which I've tried), or whatever else your mind can think up.
Or you can say that I'm slightly crazy and completely ignore me.
Your choice.

Love thy characters. . .

. . . or at least care what happens to them. If you don't care, why the heck should your reader care? Just be careful not to care so much about them that you make sure that nothing bad ever happens to them. I once started reading a story online and nothing bad ever happened to the main character - you can bet how fast I put that thing down.
Make your characters work, make them suffer for their goals, don't be afraid to kill them if the story requires it.

Oh, and don't forget to laugh today.

Link of the day

So, the link of the day is -
The Anti-guide
The Anti-Guide is a forum topic on the site Gaia Online. It's very long, at the moment there are almost 1600 pages, I'm currently on page 144. Yeah. That's a lot of pages. What it is, is a place to post "advice" for writers. It is an Anti-guide, anything that is said should be taken in reverse. Excellent forum, and you do not need to sign up to access it. Enjoy!

Character naming - part 1

Names help bring the characters to life and they bring certain prejudices. One must be careful with them! If you have two characters from the same small place and one is called Bliradella tifanreta and the other is Jack, then you have a problem and should proceed with care. You might be able to pull it off, but it's a lot of work.
Keep track of characters that have names that begin with the same letter. In one of my novels, I have Jaden, Jonah, Jinx, and Jaytur. Things tend to get confusing rather quickly. Your reader will have trouble keeping these characters separate. I am (slowly) working on rename Jaden and Jaytur. This, for me, anyway, is a subconscious thing. I don't go out and say "Oh, I want four male characters in this novel with names beginning with J." No.
And a bit of advice: Did the parent of your character(s) have a crystal ball so they could see what would happen in their future? No? Then please do NOT give them names that match their paths in life. The poor parent probably had very little idea what their children would do and so would not have given them special names.
And that's an end to part one of our segment on character naming!

Quote

"A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
-Thomas Mann