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One reader wrote me to say he loved my use of “Gamelon” as a nod to the anime sci-fi series Starblazers, but oddly enough, I didn’t know anything about that reference. I just thought it was a cool-sounding word.
I also think “Chewbacca” sounds cool, so I might use that made-up word somewhere. I don’t think it’s being used anywhere.
I always thought ‘Chewbacca’ was a contraction of the words ‘chewing’ and ‘tobacco.’
The thought that goes into the creative process is always fascinating to me, which is why I’m really enjoying adding bits of commentary to all the pages here on Runners Universe. The genesis of character names in particular is interesting to me. With RUNNERS, for instance, I was stuck for names for some of my main characters early on, so I looked around my room and settled on a wall calender. From that calender came Cember (from December) and Ril Mar (from April and March).
Roka’s last name, Nostaco, comes from a combination of Nostromo and Sulaco, the two ships from ALIEN and ALIENS. And most randomly, from the TV show “Seinfeld,” I always liked the sound of Elaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) last name: Benes. So that became Bennesaud, with Cember often shortening his name to Bennes.
So knowing all that and how random the genesis of names can actually be, who knows…maybe “Chewbacca” DID come from a contraction of “chewing” and “tobacco.” Only Lucas knows for sure….
Naming Secrets of the Pros – yours FREE at RunnersUniverse.com!
Funny, when I saw “Gamelon” I thought of gamelan music.