A Look at The Beast Hunter’s Loopi

Early concept art by Laura Schopfer

This week I thought I’d give some background on another one of the prominent groups from The Beast Hunter, the ape-like Loopi and their mystical Sky Talkers.

Their Appearance

I based the face and basic body structure of the Loopi on gibbons, which are small, monkey-like apes native to the subtropical rainforests of southern Asia. I’ve always loved the graceful lines of their fur and the elegance with which they move through the tree tops. Their fur-framed faces are especially evocative for me, as their petite features seem so well-suited for subtle expressions and emotions.

I decided early-on that I wanted the Loopi to be sophisticated and complex, which is why I chose the gibbon over something which might suggest brutish strength like a gorilla or orangutan. I also wanted to make it clear that the Loopi wore clothing, despite being covered in fur.

Their Names

I’m often asked how I come up with character names for my stories, which seems to be a real challenge for some fantasy and sci-fi writers. I usually begin my process by picking a first letter that feels like it works well for the character. Harsh sounds for strong characters, soft sounds for gentle characters, etc. I then fill out the rest of the name with syllables that sound similar to the other names that I’ve created for the story, just to keep creative continuity. I’m also careful not to have similar names for characters that are going to have interactions with each other. That means avoiding having multiple characters with names that start with the same letter, as well as trying to avoid ending too many names with the same syllable.

The most important thing to remember about character names is that they are meant to be seen first, spoken later. This means that the names you use must be visually distinctive, with letter combinations that are both visually appealing and easily distinguished from other names in your story. It’s for this reason that the names of the Loopi are some of my favorites. I love the way their three-part names look and sound, like a cascade of soft syllables reminiscent of a short chant. If you’re familiar with meditation, try using any of the Loopi names as a breathing mantra, and you’ll get an idea of why I love these names so much.

The Sky Talkers

There were a couple of things I really wanted to do when I created the Sky Talkers. For one thing, I didn’t want to make their powers too specific or even clearly definable. I felt that over-explaining what they could do and why they could do it would take away from the mystery and mystique of characters like Grel’zi’tael and Bor’ve’tai. I prefer it when the reader has to study the character and guess how much of what they did was through their supernatural powers and how much was simply from their own inner strength. I also didn’t want to make the Sky Talkers over-powered. The various types of ‘magic’ in The Beast Hunter are all intended to be subtle, mysterious processes, rather than hurling fireballs at monsters or summoning up a tornado.



Thanks to Aaron Volner for suggesting this week’s subject. Check out other bonus content by clicking the Bonus Content label in the right-hand sidebar, or go to the Lindsay’s Books tab at the top of this blog if you’d like to purchase either a digital or paperback copy of The Beast Hunter.