What’s in a name? EVERYTHING!
Naming characters… my least favorite part of writing! Ok, it’s not that bad, but in truth I can’t stand this part of the creative process. Now I’m at the point where I can’t put it off any longer. I HAVE to name my female character for the next book! I feel bad because I have so many details of her life worked out, and have even written several scenes that include her, but I haven’t given her a name.
Names are important! They can define people; they help paint the picture of a character and their traits. Names tell a story. They can be family traditions, but they’re all influenced by culture and where you live. For instance, I’d never name a character from China, John Smith, unless he was Caucasian. Alternatively, I wouldn’t name an American man Phu Lang, unless his family heritage justified it. Names are tricky.
I’ve gotten better at this over the years, but choosing names is still something that I’ve struggled with since my first novel.
How do I work through his dilemma?
I start my looking at her family, her parents in particular. (They’re the ones who chose her name after all). I take into consideration where in the world she was born, where her mother and father were born. That usually gives me a list of names. Now I look at names that I’ve already used in past books. I’m fully aware that I have a tendency to choose names with single syllables, two at the most, and I’ve used my fair share of names beginning with the letter K. (Karincin, Kor, just to site two, and they were both MAIN characters.) So, names beginning with K are out.
Then I eliminate names that I have a bad association with- ie, people I don’t like. Come on, we all have people that we’d rather not be reminded of: ex’s, bullies, the neighbor who steals your newspaper… we all have names that hold a negative connotation with us. I’d rather not think of their name for the next year as I write this book.
I also get rid of names of famous people. I can’t name a character Barack, Ringo, or Angelina without famous faces popping into your mind.
Lastly, I over think it. 🙂 I mean, I try NOT to, but some characters’ names don’t come naturally to me and I spend days agonizing over the decision. I hope that I don’t do that with this woman. I hope that I see a name in the coming days and it just clicks. She’s going to be awesome- she deserves a equally-special name.
Then I still have her parents, family, friends, enemies, nosy neighbors, and pets to name. Uggg!! Maybe I’ll just pin names to a corkboard and let my girls decide with their Nerf guns 🙂 That idea is sounding better and better.
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