We’re going to need a little more information than that…
Please see the following maps of South Asia:
Image description: Two maps of South Asia. The top map depicts the South Asian region, including Afghanistan with color-coding of different regions by 8 color-coded language groups. The bottom depicts the official state/ province/ languages and scripts for countries in the South Asian region, excluding Afghanistan. See end of post for detailed image description under the cut.
Names in South Asian cultures are primarily dictated by religion and language. While there’s some overlap between cultures, we can make an educated guess of someone’s ethnicity & religion based on their name. For example:
Simran Dhillon … is a Punjabi Sikh.
Priyanka Ghosh … is a Bengali Hindu
Maya Srinivasan … is a Tamilian Hindu.
Harsh Patel … is a Gujarati Hindu.
Amin Usmani … is a Muslim from a traditionally Urdu speaking community.
Teresa Fernandes … is a Goan Christian.
Behind the Name is a good place to start looking as they state the specific language the name is from. As for religion, there are more factors to consider.
Sikhs
Sikh first names are gender neutral. The 10th Sikh guru designated Singh (meaning lion, for men) and Kaur (meaning heir to the throne, for women) as Sikh surnames. These surnames were designed to be equalizers within Sikh communities. However, many Sikhs keep their Punjabi surnames (many of these surnames are now primarily associated with Sikhs) and use Singh and Kaur as a middle name (eg. Ranjit Kaur Shergill, Amrit Singh Cheema). More devout Sikhs use only Singh and Kaur or use the same format legally but do not share their surnames.
Sikh first names are derived from gurbani (Sikh holy texts), so they are often uniform across cultures. Most Sikhs who aren’t Punjabi use Singh & Kaur or cultural surnames in the same format. The latter is usually seen among Afghan & Delhiite Sikh communities. While most changed their surnames to Singh & Kaur, some families still kept the surnames they had before they converted from Islam and Hinduism (eg. Harpreet Singh Laghmani, Jasleen Kaur Kapoor).
If you’re stuck on a surname for a Sikh character, Singh for men and Kaur for women is the safest way to go regardless of ethnicity.
South Asian Christians naming conventions depend largely on who brought Christianity to the region and when. For example, Christianity was largely brought to Goa by Portuguese Catholics so you’ll see Portuguese surnames, while many Christians in the Seven Sister States didn’t change their names. South Asian Christians will also often have Christian first names, either in Portuguese or in English.
Hindus, Jains, castes and gotras
Hinduism is the majority religion in India and the South Asian region overall. A key thing that many newcomers overlook when writing about Hindus is that rather like feudal Europe, a person’s last name can also tell you what their family used to do because of the caste system. Both Hindus and Jains employ gotras (or lineage systems) designed to keep people from the same patrilineal line from marrying each other. Thus, if your Hindu character is a Vaishya (tradesman/ merchant class), but you have chosen a last name for them related to farming, or if your Kshatriya (warrior) character has a last name that means bureaucrat, you’ve made a mistake. Most Hindus and Jains will have last names derived from Sanskrit, or a language with Sanskrit roots.
A note on middle names: in South India, Hindus will often use the father’s first name for the child’s middle name.
For what it is worth, South Asia is hardly the only region to have these particular features. Japanese society until the end of the Edo era was heavily segregated by caste, and to this day, many families with samurai last names occupy relative positions of privilege compared to other castes, even though the Japanese caste system ended with the Meiji Restoration.
A note of caution: Baby name websites tend to be inaccurate for Hindu names, often confusing Farsi and Arabic-derived Urdu names with the more traditional Sanskrit-derived names. Behind the Name is by far the most accurate website, but it doesn’t hurt to check multiple sources. For Hindu and Jain surnames associated with different castes, regions and gotras, Wikipedia is surprisingly thorough.
Muslims
Islam is the majority religion in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as the second largest religion in India, but the differing ethnicities and arrival periods of Muslims in South Asia over the course of history can have a significant impact on a character’s name. For example, think of when your character’s family will have arrived in South Asia or converted to Islam:
During the Delhi Sultanate, when Hindustani would have been spoken?
Under the Mughals when Persian was more common?
Are they from Bangladesh and thus speak Bengali?
Do they have ancestors from Afghanistan or Swat Valley, and thus have Pashto last names?
Does the family speak Urdu?
All of these will impact what their name might reasonably be. As a general rule, Muslims will have last names that are in Farsi/ Persian, Urdu, Arabic and Bengali. Bangladeshi Muslims may have Hindu names (both first and last) as well.
Buddhists
When discussing Buddhists in South Asia, we are primarily talking about Nepal and Sri Lanka. The majority languages in these countries are Nepali and Sinhala, respectively. Both languages are part of the Indo-Aryan language family, and like many Indo-Aryan languages, show heavy Sanskrit influence.
Others
Don’t forget that India also has a large number of lesser known minority religions, including Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Tibetan Buddhism and a host of indigenous religions.
Judaism: There are a number of historical Jewish enclaves in India, as the result of specific waves of migration. Like South Asian Muslim names, Jewish last names will vary depending on the ethnicity and arrival period for each particular wave of Jewish diaspora.
Zoroastrianism: People who practice Zoroastrianism are likely to have Farsi last names.
Tibetan Buddhism: Tibetan Buddhists will obviously have Tibetan names and are often a part of the Tibetan diaspora who entered India as refugees during the Chinese government’s invasion of Tibet.
In Conclusion
An in-depth coverage of name etymology in South Asia would probably be the size of an encyclopaedia. The above is hardly exhaustive; we haven’t scratched the surface of the ethnic and linguistic variations in any of the South Asian countries displayed on the maps above. We hope, however, that it motivates you to research carefully and appreciate the cultural diversity South Asia has to offer. Just like in any setting where issues of lineage are plainly displayed by a person’s name, names in South Asia tell stories about where a person is from, what language they speak, and what their ancestors might have done, even if this has little bearing on the character themselves. It may seem a little elaborate to try and imagine the ancestors of your character before you even decide who your character is, but the reality is that most South Asians know these things instinctively, and whether or not you do your due diligence will be part of how we judge your work.
Name a thing to fight over, and South Asians have probably fought over it at one point or another, whether it be religion, ethnicity, language, or caste. However, one thing many South Asians have in common is pride in our individual origins. Respecting this love of identity will be invaluable as you plan your story.
At the end of the day, there is no substitute for actually talking to people who share your character’s background. We will always recommend having someone from the community you’re writing about check your naming.
I’m literally not okay rn. There’s so much riding on this election and it’s scaring me horribly. I try to calm down and avoid the topic because it worsens my anxiety but it’s all I can think about. I’m probably not gonna sleep tonight cause I have this horrible feeling in my gut that won’t go away. I am truly scared for my future and the future of this country. I don’t even understand why people need to think about this anymore. Possibly, do you have any tips to help cope?
First, your feelings are absolutely valid. Do not let anyone tell you differently.
Here are my favorite ways to cope (if possible):
- Taking a drive with the windows down
- Meditation breathing. The app Breathe has some great free ones too!
- Making sure to drink water and eat something even if your stomach is in knots. It absolutely helps.
- Coloring in coloring pages.
- Writing prompts that are out of my comfort zone for writing genre/style because it distracts me.
- Virtual friend dates. Watch a movie together so you have someone to discuss it with!
- Crazy documentaries.
- Grocery shopping, oddly enough.
Followers, feel free to share your own coping mechanisms and de-stressors!
I hope that you all are staying safe today. I hope you were able to vote if you could. I hope you’ve remembered to eat and drink to nourish yourself today. If you’re feeling Election Day stress, you aren’t alone. No matter which way your views land, this is a safe space. I’ll be around all night. If you need someone to talk to, please shoot me a message.
Take a deep breath and count to five. We will get through this no matter the outcome.
I'm struggling to come up with a title for my story. I know what my story is about, I've done the planning, and I have the first few chapters done, but coming up with a title has left me with a massive goose egg. Any tips? Thank you!
Hi there!
First off, happy NaNo to anyone participating in any way/shape/form this year!
I think we sometimes forget that titles go through a process just like our actual writing. We get a little idea that turns into a big one but we end up scrapping it and twisting it into something else we’re not quite happy with but then we cute it and find something we like more….and the cycle goes on. Even if you come up with a title you love and it fits your story perfectly, it may not end up still working further on down the line due to a variety of reasons. So my first piece of advice is to not take the title too seriously.
Titles can come from all sorts of places; it could be derived from your main character’s names or traits, it could stem from the conflict of the story, or it could be something more meta and/or abstract.
For example, Harry Potter. The series is just referred to as the Harry Potter series, but each individual book is “Harry Potter and…” followed by an object or person that’s important to that specific plot.
Then you have Twilight. Each of the books has similar titles (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, Midnight Sun) but those titles aren’t strictly tied to the content or conflict of the books.
Sometimes your titles don’t always make sense until the end of the story. Take Tamora Pierce’s Tortall universe for example. Each of the quartets has an overarching title, and then each book has a separate title. The “Protector of the Small” series has an overarching title that makes sense from page 1, but also grows in depth and meaning as you progress through the books. Same with “Song of the Lioness”.
Personally, coming up with a title depends on the project. My current WIP for NaNo has a title that probably won’t last once I start sharing it more because of how generic it is and how many businesses/other stories use it already. When I write fanfics, I try to be a little more dramatic/abstract and that means using a line from the fic itself or some sort of complex phrase that kind-of-barely-relates (titles of various things I’ve written, for example: Your Move, He Knows, Hesitation Lasts but a Moment, The Truths Plants Tell).
Ultimately, it’s up to you how direct you want the title to be. Just don’t forget that the title isn’t permanent until you publish, and even then there’s room for an adjustment!
The first ever template to come from The Writers’ Helpers, “Getting to Know You PT1″ is a 7-page, printable pdf will help you get to know your characters on a deeper level.
From what their favorite foods are to how they perform at work, you’ll be able to map out your characters with ease. PT1 covers the basics, and parts to come will get more intimate and cover more areas of creating your world.
The template is spaced out to allow for your creative juices to flow– perfect for when you discover something unexpected about your character.
Whether you end up using this template for Camp NaNoWriMo or just for fun, we hope that this resource will be helpful!
I've been struggling a lot with writing transitions and generally trying to end a scene. Sometimes I feel like the ending is too abrupt or doesn't fit and I don't really know how to transit from one scene to another. Do you have any tips there? Thank you in advance
Oh brother I feel you there. If you are on the first draft of your work, I would highly recommend taking the pressure of yourself: just put down anything you like, and decide that you’ll fix it later. You may find that once you’re not fretting about writing a good transition, you’ll find that what comes out is perfectly fine.
There are going to be a lot of transitions in any novel; they don’t all need to be wildly interesting every time. Something as simple as “the next day” can work in most scenes. Transitions should establish a sense of place and time in a new scene, so think about what makes this scene very different from the last. Is there potentially a way to set up the new scene during the previous, e.g. “he couldn’t wait to see his parents again….as he walked through the front door, he breathed in the smell of his childhood home”.
If you are still absolutely stuck on transitions, just say screw it and start including time stamps at the start of every new scene like its a mission log, e.g. “0545 hours, Placeville, Pennsylvania.” Who knows, it might turn into a fun twist for your narrative.
Hi, how are you doing? I'm writing a story about a kidnapping but I'm planning on having some Stockholm Syndrome involved with it. Do you have any tips on writing a character gaining Stockholm Syndrome?
I don’t know if you’re ready to hear this but: Stockholm Syndrome is not a term recognized by the APA, as in, a large portion of trained psychologists don’t see it as a real phenomenon or as a particularly valid one (American Psychological Association) ((The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 121,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. This doesn’t make it perfect but it is often an excellent source for psychological questions/issues.)) (((you know APA style, for citations and stuff? Yeah, that came from them)))
Yeah, I said that. You want to know why? Because the majority of what people think is Stockholm Syndrome is thanks to a lot of media and very little science. Let me tell you a story: an escaped convict decides to rob a bank, take a few hostages, and demand the release of a buddy. The police in Stockholm, Sweden, say nope, we’ll outwait you (and/or potentially risk the hostages’ well-being). This lasts for 6 days, and when 1 of the 4 hostages is on the phone with the Prime Minister, she quite literally says “I fully trust [convict]…I am not desperate. They haven’t done a thing to us. On the contrary, they have been very nice. But, you know, Olof, what I am scared of is that the police will attack and cause us to die.”
Yeah, she said that. She was one of three women being held hostage, with one man. They all shared accounts of their captor being kind and consoling, despite the fact that, y’know…he had caused all this.
Fast forward to the next year, as people are reporting on it and studying it, and you’ve got a (male) psychologist associating their reactions and relationship with their captor to what is commonly seen in “victims of the shock of war”. The term Stockholm Syndrome is coined, more or less in an attempt to understand why 3 women and 1 man might be more amicable towards their captor (who treated them well) than the police who endangered their lives during the entire ordeal.
“The hostages’ seemingly irrational attachment to their captors perplexed the public and the police, who even investigated whether Enmark had plotted the robbery with Olofsson. The captives were confused, too. The day following her release, Oldgren asked a psychiatrist, “Is there something wrong with me? Why don’t I hate them?”” continues the article from History.com.
SO long story short: what you think you know to be Stockholm Syndrome is almost undoubtedly inaccurate and fictional. Their reaction is most definitely not normal, but it was not also some crazy captive-love-induced phenomenon. That idea came into being later on with a couple different abduction stories I’m not going to get into.
What most psychologists do relate Stockholm Syndrome to most is the experience of POWs who begin to associate their well-being with their captors not being as bad as they could have been. It has to do with a captor threatening their life and then deciding not to hurt/kill them, which sparks an overwhelming sense of gratitude and attachment. Is it inherently romantic? For the most part, nope.
So, if you’re writing a character with elements of Stockholm Syndrome, what you want to keep in mind is this: there needs to be a real, valid threat from the captor/abductor. They have to have all the control and power in this situation. They then, for whatever reason, decide not to enact that threat. Whoever has been captured must FIRST experience gratitude, gratitude born from a survival instinct, not a romantic one. After all, it’s basically an abusive relationship that starts off obviously, glaringly wrong; “Victims live in enforced dependence and interpret rare or small acts of kindness in the midst of horrible conditions as good treatment. They often become hypervigilant to the needs and demands of their captors, making psychological links between the captors’ happiness and their own” according to Encyclopedia Britannica. And then, what really cinches it as “Stockholm Syndrome” is the negative attitude towards the “rescuers” or authorities that threaten the balance of the captive-captor experience.
I hope that helps and didn’t rock your boat too much. With this understanding of Stockholm Syndrome, you kind of have to ask–is Beauty and the Best actually an example of it? I would personally argue that Tangled, and the relationship between Rapunzel and Mother Gothel, has more accurate elements of Stockholm Syndrome, if only because of the power imbalance there that doesn’t exactly exist with Belle and the Beast. But that’s a post for another day.
Any tips to write a wild west story? I'm working on a cowboy/western AU and I have no idea on where to start to make it historically accurate. Thanks in advance and keep on being awesome!
This turned into a fairly long reply, so to quickly summarize: ignore pretty much anything Hollywood has told you about the “Wild West,” except maybe the number of women (except we don’t really know if there were significantly fewer women or if they were just that underreported/underrepresented).
Anyway!
I’m so glad you asked! Historical accuracy can get kind of tricky with any story you come up with, but especially the Wild West. There has been so much about the West that has been sensationalized thanks to media, that most people don’t actually have an accurate conception of what life looked like. Before getting into actual writing tips, here’s a basic rundown of US history that will help (and more facts/sources under the cut).
I'm writing a story about two kids that runaway from different towns and for different reasons. They already meet, and person a already likes person b, but I'm having trouble writing small talk between them, can you give me some prompts or advice?? I really love your blog!!!
Small talk and dialogue can be a really challenging part of any story, but particularly when you’re not quite sure where to go.
A great place to start is to listen to actual conversations that you have or are next to. It will let you look at how normal humans interact, especially at the age range/ranges that you’ve looked at.
Another great tool is mimicry and research. What I mean by that is: look for good examples of dialogue from movies, TV, or books that you read. Go back and write down exactly what they say, word for word, without all of the extra tags and narration, and see how it flows. Make sure to note when and how people interrupt each other. In real life, people talk over each other and that’s a part of the cadence of real conversations. I’d especially look to dialogue-heavy shows like Gilmore Girls, Iron Man 1, and Alien. Anything by Judd Apatow or Aaron Sorkin also has good dialogue as do the Rick Riordan books, in my opinion.
Now, for stories, you can’t have everyone talking all over each other because text and film are different. That being said, if you need realistic small talk, writing the small talk as if it were a script can be very helpful.
Here’s a screenshot from a Star Wars fan fiction I wrote ages ago, complete with all of the tags and narration
Here is the same section without any of the tags, structured like a script.
The reason this dialogue works is that all the sentences inside feel casual, realistic, grammatically correct, and age and location appropriate. Each speaker, if you removed the tags, sounds like a different person, but they don’t sound alien from each other. For a pair of Millennials in 2014, it fits. From this script, where I decided the specific words to use, I was able to use tags, narration, and other details to tell the audience how they were reacting to each other, how their interaction was progression, and also where they were in time and space. This also can help you save on “he said/she said” tags because you know the words and where it fits better that you just go straight to the next line by the other character.
This is the last test before it’s “done”. This can be done either in the writing or editing phase. I prefer to do it while editing, but it’s up to you. All dialogue should (1) reveal character (2) move plot (3) impart important information for the overall story (4) establish or evolve relationships. Even something as simple as a conversation about the weather, if it serves to, say, show the two characters getting comfortable with each other again after being separated before their plan was put into action, is good dialogue. Don’t feel pressure to make your dialogue profound or poetic. If it does one of its jobs, then it’s good and you can move on.
one of my characters will have a loss of memory, but I don't know if seeing something/someone could be a trigger for remembering, or if a fall would be enough to cause it
I actually have personal experience with significant head trauma leading to memory loss and with traumatic memory loss. What affects memory and remembering will vary by what caused the memory loss in the first place.
Traumatic memory loss, for example: if a woman was attacked at one point, but cannot actually remember the event itself, she might actually begin to remember details years later. A similar setting to the original attack (such as being alone in a car with a strange man), the same cologne, the next consensual sexual encounter, or even losing weight can trigger it. I know of a situation where, thirty years after a traumatic event, a woman began to lose weight and started experiencing anxiety because her brain had associated “looking beautiful” with “being vulnerable”.
Memory loss due to a brain injury may never cause a return of memory. It actually can affect long term memory storage in the future. I know a person who was injured. They cannot remember the car accident or the next four years afterward. They know events happened during that time period, but if they’re asked for specifics about any one event, they can’t actually give it to you.
That being said: therapy can be helpful for traumatic memory loss, especially if it’s an amnesia situation. Moving through familiar spaces and routines, especially if they could do it blindfolded before the memory loss.
Your sense of smell is heavily tied to memory, so even more than having them “see something” or “see someone”, if they encounter a familiar smell, it may bring up memories or familiar feelings. For example, a fictional man may recognize that he likes the smell of his wife’s perfume and it makes him feel happy and safe, even if he can’t recognize his wife yet.
That being said, the brain is fairly complex, so as long as the recovery time seems to be at least somewhat proportional to the injury, your audience will probably go with it. You also have cognitive ability loss as an option, especially if the recovery of memory is pretty fast. If you have a significant brain injury, they might have memory loss and damage to the brain that affects their thought for a while. Their memory may come back quickly, but their abilities may take longer. Looking at brain maps may also help. The vision, memory, language, reading, etc centers of your brain are in different spots, so if you note a location of impact or injury and work off of that, you can find certain things to look for from medical works as well.
Throwback thursday to when I was like 12 and I was putting out new writing DAILY…… Like entire Chapters of my then-current wips just, over an afternoon. What the fuck was I on
Nobody:
Me, age 12, just started drinking coffee:
I drew 14 pictures during the day, and wrote 32 pages a night. Now I can’t do shit.
A huge part of this is because you’ve gotten better! And now, when you’re drawing/writing/doing whatever creative task, you’re not just mindlessly throwing thoughts at your paper, you’re thinking as you do it. Children can churn out a lot more work because it’s not yet refined, but when you’re older and have more practice, you work with all these thoughts running through your head about form and shape, color palettes or word choice. Now, you’re making a dozen decisions with every moment of work, and you’re also questioning the decisions you’ve just made, wondering if you can do it better. Don’t beat yourself up about producing less work now than you did back then, because every sentence or shape involves a lot more effort for you now, than it did when you were ten and brand new to this hobby.
You also probably have a lot more responsibilities and stress now than you did then, and a lot more going on with your life just in general. You had a lot more time when you were younger than you do now.
Hi! So I'm working on a book set in a country that speaks primarily Spanish, and my characters first language is English. Since I don't speak Spanish, but that's the country's language, how should I go about writing dialogue?
Hi! That’s an interesting question. Will the story only happen in that Spanish-speaking country? What perspective are you writing in, like first person vs third person limited? Those answers might affect how you want to do it
If your character’s first language is English, are they learning Spanish and speak it occasionally, or do they already know Spanish? Because a lot of people who have learned a second language find that they gauge fluency on dreaming/thinking in that second language.
Beyond that, here are some examples of things you could do that come to mind, that I’ve seen across different types of literature:
Italicize
“Hi, how are you today?”
“Oh, muy buen. How are you?”
What that does is emphasize that the words are in a different language. I’ve seen that used both in dialogue and in regular text. For things like proper nouns and other words/ideas/foods that aren’t easily translated, that’s a good and subtle way to go about it.
Italicize but keep it in English
“Your daughter is so beautiful! She must have so many people chasing her.”
“Yes, she is very pretty.”
This one is harder to do well, in my opinion, though I have seen it work. It requires addressing it not in a breaking-the-Fourth-wall kind of way but more so with the perspective/thoughts thing like the character commenting mentally on something that was said in the other language, such as
“Can we go over to Auntie Laura’s?”
I knew they asked something about their Tia Laura, but beyond that, I had no idea.
A third way, the harder way if you don’t speak the language, is to just write the language out and then “translate it” with your character’s response
“Estoy muy cansada, necesito dormir para manana”
Pau was right in going to bed now, we would need our rest for our early start.
How much the language-learning plays a role in your story will affect the way you write it, too.
A final option is to not write any dialogue that would be happening in Spanish
That would be a little trickier, I think, to write but would help with the amount of research and language-checking you would need for some of the other options. The reason I think this is feasible, too, is as someone who grew up in a mixed home (Mexican dad, American mom) but didn’t grow up speaking anything other than English, whenever I’m around my cousins and tias/tios, it’s almost easier to tune out the Spanish than to try and pick out what individual words I can understand. I’ve been doing that since I was very young. Some people do better with reading than they do with listening; I do really well when I have body language and IRL context clues.
I was happy to see the smiles on everyone’s faces as they greeted each other, arms wrapping around waists and kisses being pressed on cheeks. I knew that basic greetings were being exchanged amidst the rapid-fire Spanish but didn’t even bother trying to understand.
I realized that someone had been speaking to me when no one responded to their question, their eyes fixed firmly on mine.
So whatever you end up doing, Anon, answer those top questions first and then play around to find what works best. And don’t trust Google Translate to give you what you need: it won’t be able to help you with any dialect, vernacular, and slang differences let alone the conversational language vs proper/academic. It will never hurt to have a native-Spanish speaker look over it for you either
i'm writing a hacker character, but i dont know whether or not its required for me to know some basics of hacking? because i have no knowledge of that and all, though i can already picture the character's background and personality and all.
I think like with anything, knowing the basics will only ever help you, not hurt you. Getting information accurate (as much as possible) can help prevent little things from distracting your readers
Here’s a wonderfully simple introduction to hacking and writing it. I like this webpage because it gets straight to the point on some basics, such as what programs actually are, how firewalls work (hint they’re not actually walls), and more
This webpage gets more into the culture of hacking/hackers, which I think could be important info to have on hand no matter how small the character is in your work. It also gets into some more specific but still pretty basic elements, like how punctuation is used or Hello World
I think those are some good places to start. Honestly, unless you’re book is more about hacking than the person doing the hacking, you don’t need to drown yourself in research. We don’t need to trip up over super technical terms, and won’t be held in suspense by paragraphs upon paragraphs of repetitive processes
