I also wrote a short course teaching other people how I do this.

I build languages or language parts for my books, and develop the names in the stories from them.

I then took apart the languages I’d learned or studied, (English, my first language, and Spanish, when I learned as a kid when I lived in Costa Rica and Guatemala, and French, which I studied for three years in high school, as well as other languages I studied briefly) looking for the essentials of how they worked. In my quest to know everything about everything (still working on it it but not there yet :D) I studied languages, and linguistics (how languages are put together), and the histories of languages.

So, just for fun, ask yourself this, Am I somehow part-Indian? Because this can only come through deep knowledge of Hindi…  or some heavenly miracle and one hell of a coincidence. I know you were an American writer, and to read your books made me wonder, if you were part Indian… Now, I want you to go back and think when you were writing you novels, and then imagine how I must have felt while reading. Like the explosion of a rainbow.Īnd to be fair Ruchika (shining, beautiful and desirable) unfortunately I do not possess any of these characteristics. Last but not the least Holly (Holi is the festival of colors in India) kind of like how you filled the nightlings and your books with so much color. (all these words are either from ancient-Hindi or street-slang-Hindi) This is one of the revolutionary changes Genna and Catri brought about, right. Jagan (‘to awaken’ or ‘the awakening’) waking up Jagan also marked the wakening up of the Spire. He also signifies a new era of Sun-wizardry (in my opinion, you know, as he caught the moonroad and all) Navan (Naven means ‘new’ or ‘fresh’) he is the first new character introduced in the Silver Door, and not only that he is also a new villain our main characters must face. Yarri (friendship) she becomes a true friend to both Dan and Genna, which also shows that nightlings and humans can coexist in harmony and peace. Who told people about things and gave people answers and all. Yihanni (“that means…”) if my memory is as good as I think then they were the village wise-women. But you saw what I mean right, when I was reading the Ruby Key and the Silver Door the names and their Hindi meanings fascinated me and (creeped me out)įirst of all Genna (to live) is the chosen one who will save humans and nightlings, and lead them to live a life of freedom.

I just picked up the two books and went through them real quick. First of all I want to apologize for bothering you so mush.

The Silver Door by Holly Lisle