u/Loosi67

For context, I've had this fast-paced gothic horror story idea brewing in my head for many years now and I was just beginning to outline the how the prologue would play out for each character to get them all in the location where the story plays out (Not the actual writing of a chapter) and I couldn't help but feel that everything I wrote felt a little... clunky?

• Louisa wakes up in the middle of a cornfield surrounded by iron gates with nowhere to go but a single house standing alone, as Louisa carefully examines the house's exterior, long inky like tendril appendages break one of the windows and pull Louisa in by her head.
• Edward is running from an unknown entity as he sees a house in the distance standing in the middle of a cornfield surrounded by iron gates, as he approaches the entrance, he busts the door open, quickly shutting behind him as he heard loud wailing followed by violent knocking before everything went quiet.
• Enjoying the calm scenery of the shore, Joe notices a strange movement at the lake's surface before an inky tendril-like arm yanks him by the ankle and into the water, constricting itself around him, Joe struggles to breathe as it disappears abruptly, he instantly rises up, gasping for air and about to escape before he finds himself marinating inside a bathtub.

Constructive harsh criticism would be really appreciated because my writing skills feel rough and I also just wanted to say thank you in advance.

I hope this is an appropriate sub to ask this, so right now I can’t decide between the names "Louise" and "Louisa" for one of my characters, since I equally like both I just decided to choose whichever was more common for the respective era and setting she comes from (Which in this case would be England set during the reign of queen Victoria) however, after extensive research I couldn’t really find or come across any helpful sources on which name was more common during that time period and so I was wondering if maybe anyone who did know about this would inform me and I just wanted to thank you in advance.

So, I have a character floating in my head being Louisa, Edward and Joseph "Joe"

My only concern is that I think that the name 'Edward' specifically might be too connected to Twilight that people will think of it when they see the name, so, should I change it?

While at first I didn't really want any names to overlap (This want so far as to me even not wanting two characters to have the same syllable, pretty extreme I know) I really like using these names because they're actually pretty time appropriate for the place and setting of the plot.

I just worry that maybe they're too similar so they might get confusing? Any advice? Or am I overthinking?

I really like the surname Landry however I can’t find a Russian name that sounds good when paired with it.

Right now the only names that I can come up with are:

• Sofia Landry (Short form "Sonya")

• Anna Landry (Short form "Anya")

• Maria Landry (Short form "Masha")

Which do you think of these, and if you have any favorite?

So, these are my characters so far, I'd love to know people's general thoughts on them and whether or not they feel "cohesive" / "thematic" as a 'set' perse:

• Anthony Newman
• Tatiana Landry
• Beth / Betty (Haven't decided yet lol) (Short for Elizabeth)
• Chloé Dupont

I hate always having to think about the future and feeling like there's this gigantic pile of bricks over my chest.

I hate having to think that I my family will try to shut me down when I'm older to try and force me to get married to a woman. I'd rather burn alive.

I'm not sorry I'm not my mother's perfect boy she expected / thinks will have many grand kids in the future.

But then the self-doubting comes into play when you try to be firm with myself in the mirror of what I am and then a million different people's experiences make your head spiral out of control but you can't show it because my mother or father would literally end me if they found out what was really going on with me.

Considering also the events happening at home combined with my own shit I haven't told anyone that close to me regarding my psychotherapist situation I feel l just need to one day open my eyes and be 40 so I can clear my head from all of this bullshit and be certain of myself with true confidence.

But I won't ever understand what true pain feels like either because at the end of the day, I'm just a boy living comfortably with some trivial issues. So, smile and help those who are around you to forget about yourself even if it's just for quarter of a millisecond.

But I have to continue just to not disappoint myself, to prove my family wrong and that I don't care about being their "perfect man."

So, I'm writing a story just for fun that is set in the 2000s and one of the characters is a middle-aged man half-German half-Italian in a primarily Anglophone country and works as a professor. And I was wondering what people's opinions on giving him a non-Italian name like "Anthony"? Would it be weird?

Especially since his surname already is an Anglicized German surname (Think: "White" from "Weiß," or "Stone" from "Stein," or "Newman" from "Neumann" or even just the German/Danish surnames "Lau / Lang")

For context, there's another character which is a secondary central character who's a half-French Canadian half-Russian by the name of "Alexandra" (However, she's called a non-Russian nickname by the professor (Think "Lexi" or "Allie" or "Sandra") and "Anya" by her Russian mother.

I did consider some Italian names such as "Luca" (Felt that sounded too young for a middle-aged man) "Francesco" IDK though.

Anyone have any good recommendations for German / Italian names that sound nice with the German / Danish surname "Lau"?

For context: This is for a professor whose half-German half-Italian, a sizable portion of his story happens in an Anglophone region, so a name that's also familiar / easy to pronounce for English speakers would be preferable if that’s not too much to ask.

I want him to have two given names; with the name he chooses to use being either Italian or German or shared across both cultures.

So, I've been thinking about this idea for a central character in my head for a while now, he’s supposed to be a university professor in his 40s who grew up as an orphan, however, in secret he’s been working on creating an AI which was supposed to be a recreation / replica of the girl he used to love in the past who had been deceased for a while.

Some trivia: His paternal grandfather was a German émigré who anglicized their surname from "Stein" to "Stone."

So far, these are these are the names I came up with:

• Daniel Stone
• Elias Stone
• Ethan Stone
• Henry Stone
• Joel Stone
• Joseph Stone
• Louis Stone
• Philip Stone

Are they too generic / boring for this type of character? If so, does anyone have any other suggestions / advice on something different?

Though, if these names do work, which should I filter out and which should I keep that best fit him in your opinion?

Wanted to get some insight for which nickname people preferred for the name Elizabeth / Elisabeth (Still haven't decided on the spelling yet lol)

For now what I want advice on is to whether use the nickname "Lily" or "Beth" (Pretty basic I know but I'd like to keep it safe this time around.)

For context:

The character is supposed to be an orphan whose parents disappeared due to unknown circumstances at a very young age to the point where she can’t even remember the reason for their disappearance, she’s favored by her caregiver / nun compared to the other kids for reasons relating to her parents’ disappearance; she likes to tease the other orphans and became close friends with two of them (One of whom she used to not be particularly fond of at the beginning)