The Indie Elite is honored to be a stop along the tour celebrating the release of
Kristie Cook's new novella, Genesis. She's also giving Indie Elite readers a chance to win some great swag! First, Kristie is here to tell us a bit about the novel and share how she came up with her characters' names:
Kristie: Genesis: A Soul Savers Novella is a bit different from the other Soul Savers books. Although the fantasy world I created is the same, the real world is not. After all, it takes place over 2,000 years ago, around 200 B.C. So it required a lot of research to understand life in Greece during that era. For each stop along the release tour, I’m sharing something I learned and how it ties into the story.
How authors name their characters is always an interesting topic. In this case, there’s not much information available about how Ancient Greeks were named. A couple tidbits: Because newborn mortality was quite high, babies weren’t named for seven to ten days after birth. Slaves, which were very common (there may have been more slaves than free men), weren’t allowed to use their names but were given new ones by their masters.
The lack of information didn’t matter, though, because I already had names chosen for the characters in Genesis. As with most of my characters, their names were carefully selected based on meaning, personality and certain story elements. The name is about the only part of a character that doesn’t come to me clearly and directly on its own. Rather, the character’s personality, purpose for the story and other things lead me to find the name that fits just right.
What are the characters’ names in Genesis and what do they mean? You might be able to find some foreshadowing by these…
Andrew – Andrew comes from the Greek name Andreas, but my Andrew wasn’t born Greek, which is why I didn’t name him Andreas. The Angels gave him this name that means “man.”
Cassandra – An Ancient Greek name that means “shine upon man.” In Greek mythology, she was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo but when she turned him down, he made it so no one would believe her prophecies.
Jordan – It’s a Biblical name, which is important, but it’s also a Macedonian name and by the time Jordan was born, Macedon (as it was known then) had a heavy presence in Greece. I was glad to see it was feasible for his parents to name him this, because I liked it for reasons they would never have known. Particularly that in Hebrew it means to “descend” or “flow down,” and that the name comes from the River Jordan, which flows down into the Dead Sea.
Niko – The short form of Nikolaus which means “victory of the people” or of Andronikos which means “victory of a man.”
Eris – Means “strife” in Greek.
Andronika – Named after her father and grandfather, Niko and Andrew.
Deimos – Means “terror” in Greek and in Greek mythology, Deimos was the son of the bloodthirsty god of war Ares whose name means “ruin.”
Take from this what you will…and then read Genesis to see if you’re right. It’s available in ebook form right now.
To win a Soul Savers Swag Pack, all you have to do is comment below. This also earns you entries into the Grand Prize drawing at the end of the Genesis Release Tour. Good luck!
*Sources:
The Soul Savers novels:
Here is a bit about Chosen:
