As we’re fond of mentioning, one of our characters is an author. Samples of “her” work are included as epigraphs throughout the novel. This presented an interesting challenge for us. We needed to make sure that her voice is distinct from ours. In addition to changing up the style, we also wanted to have an entirely separate nomenclature for her story world.

Our fictional author writes heavier science fiction than we do. This necessitated the development of technical terms for machines and processes in her story world. Jen and Kent worked together to create a new vocabulary to express our character’s characters’ scientific achievements.

But we didn’t stop there. The fictional fiction world’s inhabitants needed both a unique personal naming scheme, and method of address. To enhance the otherness we wanted to avoid using terms like Mr or Dr, or even Comrade. After a lengthy brainstorming session and several walks around the neighborhood, we made a decision.

Then Jen had fun with naming the individuals. She developed a pattern for the names to follow, a theme for them to fit. For a “real” novel it would probably be too much, too stilted, along the lines of every character being named for a color. But that matchy-matchy quality works very well for our meta-story because it ties the characters together at the same time that it sets the names apart from those in the real story.

One final way we set the story-within-a-story apart has less to do with nomenclature. We always use the characters’ full names, including their title. Doctor Rune Skelley found this a very effective way to add to our author character’s unique voice.