And completely unintentional, I should say.

A character appeared in my WIP whom I love to pieces.  At this point he’s probably my favorite character.  He just kind of appeared out of nowhere like the rest of them do but I’m glad he did.  His presence gives the story a sense of mysticism, not to mention his homeland sounds really freakin’ cool.  And I invented it!

He’s from a section of the kingdom called South Fair.  It’s a port province so it acts as a cultural melting pot.  Think New York City but nowhere near as hard and brutal.  The thing is there’s a very large concentration of energy in that area, magic completely separated from what the Giver would dole out.  This is magic of the earth as opposed to magic of the stars.  The more native people to the area (those that have been there from the beginning or at least a few generations) are closer in respect to gypsies.  Think Romani.  But there’s also, for lack of any other reference, Native American mysticism there, worship of the earth and the water, voodoo cultures, types of jive from New Orleans.  Pretty much it’s an amalgam of a bunch of different mystic people centrally located into one area (mind, they’re not all there).

Now because of that, because of all that earth-bound energy buzzing around the air, it creates a draw, a sense of lost to anyone that may visit if they so wish to succumb to it.  It’s a raw energy, filtered through the people directly from the earth.  The people in that area aren’t looked on as weird per se, just extraordinarily different since it’s not the norm in the “upper” kingdom.  The rumor of the kingdom is that people go to South Fair to get lost.  It’s not what you’d call a vacation destination and while people do emerge from it safe and sound, they usually go there with specific purposes in mind.

Now, lets not read too deep into the magical elements of this.  In no way does the star/Giver magic reflect a kind of “heaven-sent” magic while the earth-bound magic of South Fair represent some kind of “hell-sent” magic.  Not a chance.  The earth in and of itself exudes it’s own magic and energy.  The people of South Fair have learned through generations to harness it themselves.  The star/Giver magic is doled out to the people of the kingdom at the Giver’s will as directed by the stars.  The stars, physically, hold the magic.  If you’re not bestowed with a gift from the Giver at birth and you’re not from a culture in South Fair, you’re just a normal person.  But a person from South Fair can be given a gift since it’s a province of the kingdom of Raydin, as is the case with the character in question.  He’s a Crier but also from a culture in South Fair so he’s much more superstitious than the rest and can harness a touch more energy than the others because of where he came from.  Not much because he was young when he was taken so his experience is limited but it’s more than just being a Crier.

So there’s this character and the first time my MC notices him she notices how “his skin got darker the further the sun set.”  Yes, he’s black.  More of a Caribbean hue than an African.  Are all people from South Fair black?  No.  Like I said, melting pot.  Well, initially when I was brewing this character, I was going to have him be a sort of tribal dancer, fire dancer type of thing.  Not your “I got to go to the club” dancer but a guy that when he hears music starts to almost trance dance.  This is where the nickname originally came from.  It was fitting.  It’s another name for a dance but almost instantly I knew that this wasn’t that character.  He dances, yes, but not in that original intimation.  So the brain started to brew again.

I added in the superstitious element and then decided that he was going to have a bit of jive to his speech.  Not in the standard sense of jive but it is accented.  He doesn’t talk in straight forward sentences like the rest of the characters.  The mystery behind his culture emanates in his language and in his actions.  He speaks not so much in riddles but vague, sideways references that if you haven’t spent enough time with him or aren’t really paying attention, you’re not going to get what he’s saying.  Not the first time around anyway.  It’s one of the many reasons why I love this guy so much.  That and the fact that he has this holographic stamp on the back of his head meant to mesmerize people into the same transitive dances he goes into.  Pretty colors!  And of course his head is shaved to display it and he won’t grow his hair in.

So, because of this almost nonsensical speech, his nickname was still able to be used, derived from “jigsaw puzzle” instead of a dance.  It makes a load of sense, especially when you hear him speak.  So the name Jig he kept.  It’s a nickname because, according to him, his real name is only pronounceable by his mother.  So simpler is better here.

As it goes, I’m coincidentally watching Gangs of New York the other night and Bill the Butcher is watching a black man dance to a hybrid African/Irish medley.  He says, “A jig for a jig.”  At that point my heart jumped up into my throat and my brain went into overload.  No, that’s not what it means, is it?  It can’t be . . . can it?

A trip to dictionary.com ratcheted up my fears that yes, I did very much inadvertently nickname my black character a derogatory piece of racist slang.  Son of a bitch!  Apparently the word ‘jig’ is thought to have derived from ‘jigaboo’ (another term I’ve never heard of) in the early 20s (Martin Scorsese needs to do better research since GoNY is next during the Civil War).  I might as well just be calling him the n-word for all that means.  What the hell???  Is it a good thing that I had no idea that I was insulting my character or is it something I should have known?  I have no idea!

I love the name!  It’s just that, a name I thought I was giving him, shortened from ‘jigsaw.’  It’s a perfect fit for him in that regard.  It makes so much sense!  And then this!  Obviously the planets aligned for me on this for a reason but dammit!  Should I comb my manuscript for other inadvertent insults?  Good lord!  Now I have to alter a name that I really love, that’s wholly fitting to the character and never had the intentions of bigoted intimations behind it because I’ve, by chance, found out that it’s racist slang.  This is the kind of luck I deal with on a daily basis.  Chagrining abound!

Now I’m going to be all paranoid trying to choose another name for him that couldn’t possibly have any racist slants to it.  I like Tic, short for cryptic but, you know, black, blood-sucking parasite.  Can’t use that!  Not to mention I already have a Mic (pronounced like Mike, actually) so the two are too similar in spelling anyway.  My thoughts then went to enigmatic and Nig.  Nope!  Not a chance on that one!  Slapped my forehead as soon as that one came to mind and completely innocently at that.  I’m just going for short, simple and derived from a word that means puzzling.  I’m leaning towards Cab, short for cabalistic.  Very fitting, short, sweet, to the point.  Any racist slants I may be missing on that name?  Mys, short for mysterious.  Inx, short for sphinxlike and would also play into his stamp.  Anything in those?

And no, I’m not keeping his name and changing the skin color.  He wouldn’t be the same character if I did that.  You know, the color of his skin never played into naming him and maybe I’m overreacting on this because I’m white and I don’t want to offend but now I’m hyper-paranoid.  His skin is just a physical trait, like Sabina’s blonde hair.  it’s not relevant to anything other than how they look but now I’ve stumbled upon this and it’s a bigger deal than I thought it would be.  He’s worth it, though.  He’s a great character and no way in hell I’m dropping him.

I must meander around thesaurus.com.  Any suggestions for a nickname that’s in the same vein as puzzle?

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