So way back when I was writing Love Sucks (a million years ago, I think), I was looking for a name for my love/lust/inhibition drainers. If it had just been love, I probably would have been find with “love drainer” or something, but for some reason “drainer” or “sucker” didn’t really appeal to me as an all-encompassing title for these demons. This was before vampires were impossible to sell, but “vampire” didn’t quite seem to fit.
I turned to my writing buddies and asked for suggestions. One had been taking Latin, and together we came up with “Haustor” or “someone who drains.”
Today I was working on a report that summarized major threats to different species. Imagine my surprise when I came across the word, “Haustoria.” Obviously, I couldn’t let that go without looking it up. It turns out that the haustoria (haustorium = singular) are the part of a parasitic plant or fungus that draws nutrients from the plant.
Of course, it makes perfect sense that Haustores and haustoria have similar names and do basically the same thing–drain food from a host with a touch. They were both named with the same Latin root (“to drain”). But it was cool to have my work and writing worlds collide with the chance encounter with a word I basically consider to be mine.
Do you ever have your writing world intersect with the real world in a weird way like this?
Lots of love,
Sage
Sage, Like the Spice 