I’ve had many character names over my history of writing.
Some, like my main character Rain, have specific meanings. In my WIP, I have a
blind character called Thea (goddess of sight) because I wanted a specific
metaphor. However, I don’t recommend names like this unless you’re trying to
make a point (which I am).
I’ve known people to spend months looking for the right character
name, convinced they can’t start their story unless they choose The Right One.
Well, news flash: in the real world people have perfectly ordinary names like
Chris and Daniel and Jessica. There are very few people named Thea out there,
but I use her name with irony. There are very few people named Cinnamon or
Yolanda or Blanket or Sunshine.
These are obnoxious, and your readers will most likely hate you and/or your book if your main character is anything like these names. In
reality there are many more Plain Janes than there are Optimus Primes. Don’t
agonise over choosing a name when the most successful book series of time is
based off the character “Harry Potter.”
This is, of course, slightly different when you’re in the
sci-fi or fantasy genre. Names like Katniss and Seneca are acceptable here, but
they’re not so far from our names that they sound stupid. Zaphod Beeblebrox,
for example, is a name that would annoy many people if it wasn’t specifically
supposed to be ironic. When in fantasy or sci-fi, choose a name similar enough
to ours that it won’t annoy readers.
Basically what I’m saying is that it’s alright to have a Plain Jane or a Mary
or a Sue (but perhaps not a Mary-Sue). Don’t wait for three years to start your
story because you can’t find The Right One. Pick a name that fits your needs
and stick with it.
Some things to avoid:
-
Names people can’t pronounce
-
Too many names that sound the same
-
Names that don’t fit their age, location, time,
or genre, so a 12-year-old English girl wouldn’t generally be called Doris
Names that sound stupid (see above)
How do you name your characters? Do you find one right away or take a while to find one? Share your thoughts below!
Hi Emily! I read your post at Random today and came this way to check out your blog.
ReplyDeleteYou make a really good point about names. I find that I have to go back and change the names I've chosen for about half of my supporting characters because I have two many C-names (this book) or names that end in "a" (every book).
However, I do have an amazing resource, "The Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook" which I love because it's for writers and it includes author excerpts and has names broken up by country. I love trolling it for ideas.
(And it's better than a baby name book because nobody asks if I'm pregnant.)
I will have to check out this sourcebook! Sounds amazing. I agree about the baby names - online there's always some pop-up asking what trimester I'm in.
DeleteThanks for sharing!
What I normally do is I type a word that defines my character into google translate and translate it into Latin or Greek, then just adjust the word enough that it sounds like a name.
ReplyDeleteI've done that as well, actually! Especially for fantasy. I went through a whole lot of words and languages until I found some great names.
DeleteThanks for the idea!
Found your page on Random Writing Rants and loved your excerpt so much I wanted to check out your blog. You make such a good point! I often use www.behindthename.com to come up with names, or just peruse the phone book. I can't really define how I pick a name, I just choose one that seems to fit. I often find that as I get to know a character, whatever name I give them becomes them. I try to remind myself that their parents didn't know them before they named them, so instead of matching the name to the character I try to match it to the place, time, and character of the parents.
ReplyDeleteLove your blog!
Thanks, it's one of my favourite bits in my story so far. I'll try behindthename. Yeah, I find that too...that it's not a spefically conscious choice. What's in a name, right? But names ARE important, and your name will become your character, as you've said. That's a great point about the parents, and that's what I did with Rain and Thea (the characters in my excerpt).
DeleteKeep checking here for more awesome posts! You could even recommend some if you want.