Larke's Guide to Creating and Naming Characters

I will teach you how to create and name characters.

Creating a Character
A good way to start is thinking about warriors. First Warrior Cat name to come into your head is, say, Squirrelflight. Here's what you do:

Squirrelflight is the first name you think of. She's a ginger she-cat with green eyes.

You work off of that. You like the ginger pelt, but say you want blue eyes instead.

Lots of people seem to think she has one white paw; you might want all four to be white.

She has a big fluffy tail, but maybe you want a regular tail.

Here's what you have so far:

A ginger she-cat with white paws and blue eyes.

A character isn't a character without a personality. Think of another cat- let's use Mistystar.

Mistystar is a smart cat who is honest and fair. (For example, she explained about a badger once, and said she'dve sent a message if she thought there was danger to another Clan.)

Maybe you want your character to be smart like her. Okay, you keep that.

But maybe you're creating a villain, and you want to make her scheming and tricky instead of honest and fair.

So now you have a character:

A clever, scheming ginger she-cat with white paws and blue eyes.

A great base for a character- but now you need a name.

Names
Names are one of the most difficult things to make. You have a great look and personality for your character but have no clue what to name it. I'll give you some tips on how to make names.

Rogues and Loners
Rogues and loners are fairly easy. They can be just about anything- including an outcast Clan cat. (Think Tigerclaw.)

In Firestar's Quest, alot of the cats he gathers start out as rogues or loners. For example, Scratch and Leaf.

In short, you can name a rogue or loner a Clan name if they're an outcast, or just about anything nature related like Leaf or Litchen, or another one-word thing like Scratch.

Kittypets
Kittypets are only partially easy. You can think of any random human name like Rachel and boom you have a name. (Think Jake from Bluestar's Prophecy.) But a regular name is so boring!

Insert eyeroll here- some little kid might name their cat Fluffy or Cuddles. So think about their personality for a sec.

Say you have a happy, bright little longhaired she-cat. A name like Fluffy might work, or Cutie or even Silly if you're going to be really strange.

For a cuddle-resistant independant tom, you might do James if absolutely neccessary (to me James sounds like a maverick name.). But to be creative, why not do something to absolutely contradict his nature? Something like Sunny can be either totally hilarious or make for an irritable cat if you use it right.

Clan Cats
Oh, Clan cats are the worst to name! It's almost easier to think up a name first and then make a description based on the name, but if you have the best description ever here's how to do it.

Think about the names given to cats by Erin Hunter. Fireheart, Tigerclaw, Raggedpelt. They all reflect what they look like- Fireheart is bright ginger, Tigerclaw has long claws, and Raggedpelt's fur is messy.

The first part of a name should be something nature or color related. Erin Hunter blew it when they used Moonflower- sacred name!- so avoid using the prefix moon.

Ideas:

Blue

Fire

Flame

Tiger

Lark

Sun

Long

Dapple

Speckle

Mist(y)

Stone

Jay

The last part of a name, unless the cat is a kit, leader, or apprentice, should work off of the first part. Fur and pelt are easy to use if you can't think of anything else, but you don't want a Clan that's cats are named Cloudpelt and Waterfur and Longpelt and Foxfur. Eyeroll!

Often, they are parts on a cat, such as pelt, fur, tail, nose, ears, foot, leg, heart, whisker, fang, et cetera. (Avoid using fur or pelt if you can.)

However, they can also be designs- like stripe, spot, scar, or dapple.

If used right, a different suffix can be used, like in Larksong (my character), Squirrelflight, and Leafpool. This reflects natural things. So some examples are song, flight, pool, leaf, feather, or river.

I really hope this helps!!

~LarkSong