Before starting to work on my historical novel, I’m using the end of this year to wrap up the fantasy. I’m rewriting Jessamine from scratch, therefore I’m not sure I’ll be able to put it on Smashwords before the end of the year, but I decided it’s useless to rush it, as it will be a sample of my writing and it better be good. I don’t want to turn off readers like that un-named author did with me with an unedited, awful free e-book! 
Air is going to the copy editor in January, but my trusted beta- reader B-Abby came up with the following comment on the final draft:
It may due to the era I grew up in. It is the Waiora having -dol at the end of their names.
I IMMEDIATELY thing of Barbie Doll. Ken Doll. And that makes me snicker and I start visualizing the characters as plastic dolls. Perhaps you might want to poll any other Americans you know to see if they have the same reaction or if it’s just me.
I’m Italian, but I still have my Barbie Doll, so I guess she’s not much older than me, tee-hee! I call her Miss 1974 from her approximate date of birth, and as I never liked Ken, she was always single (I had a Big Jim Doll, but he’s too short for Barbie, so I coupled it with Ginger). Now she’s surrounded by a collection of “medieval” Barbies with which I never played. But I digress!
Miss 1974 with her younger and taller peers more princely than she can ever be...
Here’s a bit of word creation for your eyes only (and the whole world, as this blog is public, haha). The Waiora are the water people of Silvery Earth and they have suffixes added to their name to differentiate where they live (salted water or fresh water). Let me tell you how I came up with those suffixes: “dol” is short for “dolce”, which literally means “sweet”, but in this case stands for “fresh water”. Sea Waiora have a “sal” suffix, which stands for “salato” or “salted” – I guess I can keep that one (Krisha-sal?). There are no sea dwelling Waiora in Air (you’ll meet them in Water, when all suffixes will also be abolished=, so in Air there’s only the -dol suffix.
Now, I’ve decided that the Old Tongue spoken by all the Magical Races (which includes Waiora) is actually Esperanto, so I looked up both words (3, actually, as I’m not sure if they say “sweet water” or “fresh water”, so I looked up both):
Sweet (mannered), dolĉa
Salt, salo
Fresh, freŝa
Which kind of takes me back to the beginning. Maybe I should use English, then.
So, my question is: should I change the suffix -dol to the English version -fre?
Names are they are now: Mekhi-dol, Ahsleigh-dol would become Mekhi-fre, Ashleigh-fre. Make you think less of plastic dolls?
Please leave your answers in the comments, thank you! 
keshav Ram
/ December 21, 2010I don’t mind the ‘dol’ suffix. It brings a good ending to a name, fre – makes me imagine that the name is never ending. freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
My imagination always pictured the waiora females as really hot (hopefully half naked), but I digress
Barb
/ December 21, 2010wahahahaaaaaa!
OK, maybe I’ll get rid of all suffixes… how about the Hindi words for fresh and salted water?
Both male and female Waiora have tunics (like ancient Romans or Greeks) but of a different material… and the women have short skirts, which, compared to Human ladies/girls who are covered to their feet, makes them look… obscene!
keshav Ram
/ December 21, 2010Fresh translates to “Taaja”
Salted Water translates to “Namkeen Paani”
Barb
/ December 21, 2010Mekhi-taa, Ashleigh-taa and Krisha-nam… *mumble mumble*
Interesting!
Would it make YOU laugh?
Gorakh Nath
/ December 22, 2010Hello Barb Ji,
I think it’s a good idea to stay with the same logic for both the names (for your two types of water-people.) I don’t mind dol as a suffix and it doesn’t make me think of dolls.
Anyway, I am here to tell you that I appreciate your coming to my blog and that I really have not been able to return the favour. I was tied down with a lot in my world and yours.
I should also tell you that I am seriously considering reading some stories written by you – it will help me understand you better…as Joy says, you know what I mean.
See you later, Barb Ji,
Regards,
Gorakh Nath.
Barb
/ December 22, 2010I’d be honored if you read some of my stories… especially since Air is INDIA/Persia inspired!
Although for the novel you might have to wait another month or three… but you can find shorter pieces either here (under “short fiction”) or on Serial Central.
Then when we meet in the Afterlife I can tell you the rest… but it’w a whole new world to explore!
Thank you for stopping by!
subcreator
/ December 22, 2010Interesting. Mekhi-dol doesn’t make me think doll at all. But Ashleigh-dol does. Perhaps because Ashleigh (or Ashley) is a common American name and is often used in pop culture for stuck up preppy type girls. So when I read Ashleigh-dol I do get a Barbie type image in my head.
But I really like the suffixes and the logic for them.
Barb
/ December 22, 2010As I have two female Waiora and one male in this story, I understand B-Abby’s POV… and yours!
Thank you for weighting in!