Novel Writing Made Less Impossible -- I'm Not Calling This Blog "What's In a Name."
- Brian K. Morris
- Sep 6, 2017
- 4 min read
One more item and then I think we're done with the foundation for building your characters. However, for many people that I speak to, it's a genuine issue.
Giving names to their characters.
In science fiction, it appears to be easy. Just bring together a bunch of syllables that flow seems to be the norm in science fiction and fantasy for decades. Apostrophes seem to be all the rage in fantasy/SF names, like B'rn'Mr's ... my fave was J'onn Jon'zz, the Manhunter From Mars. Anyway, don't overload your names with punctuation marks. Concentrate on making those names pronounceable for your reader. You don't want them spraining their tongues while attempting to tell why YOUR minor character was their favorite and why. They'll never get to the why.
I will frequently take a familiar name, usually the surname, and spell it differently -- such as in turning "Smith" to "Smithe" or "Smyth." Or I might change a syllable and see if the name sounds natural. For instance, in The Original Skyman Battles the Master of Steam, the ex-mob muscle that assisted Albrecht Bruhner was named Marco Roove. Marco was a good, somewhat exotic name (to me, at least) with a bit of ethnicity to it, thus implying a certain organized crime organization based out of Southern Europe. Is that subtle enough for everyone? And I derived "Roove" from "Reeve," one of my favorite actors.
And "Albrecht" came from an artist whose work I happened across in my comic book art collection while "Bruhner" popped into my head, recalling the late Wally Bruner, former host of To Tell the Truth and Wally's Workshop. See how easily that works?
Of course, I didn't have to rename Allan or Peter Turner, nor Fawn Carroll because those characters were created almost two decades before I was born. Let's hear it for serialized fiction!
One tried and true way for decades to create names has been to open a telephone directory without looking at it. Then lift one finger and -- again, without keeping it within eyeshot -- let it touch a page. Perform this act twice and take, respectively, the first then the last name just above your finger and there's your fella or gal, depending on what you need. You might amend this to the first gender-specific (or non-specific, depending on how you roll, or point in this case) name you need for the job. Since I do a lot of driving, I often see a number of exit signs or roadside advertisements. For instance, exit 54 on I-57 in Illinois has a sign for "Marion-Harrisburg." Anyone need the name "Marion Harris?" How about "Harris Mariburg?" You're welcome.
There's a name for an apartment complex in Peoria, Illinois that I saw twenty years ago that I'm still waiting to create a character awesome enough to use it. I almost wound up giving that name to Vulcana's human identity. However, I decided to hold off. However, I did borrow "Angelique" because I had a huge crush on Lara Parker at one time and that was her character's name on the Dark Shadows TV soap opera. And given her alliance with Vulcan, the surname "Forge" just leapt out at me and refused to leave until I committed it to my newest heroine.
I like the convention of naming tough, powerful characters with hard consonants like "Clark" (Kent), or "Mack" (Bolan), or "Dirk" (I did pick this up from Clive Cussler and his major protagonist, Dirk Pitt), or "Darkseid." And using one consonant names, two at the most, for your main character. It saves time and makes the character easier for the reader to remember. Do you think the character would be as memorable as "Sherlock Holmesekowski?" Or is there something a tad more elegant about "Holmes?"
And what do YOU think? How do you name your characters? Any questions about this or past blogs? Let me know in the comments below, please.
NEXT WEEK: Two Breaths and Thirty Seconds to Seal the Deal LAST WEEKEND: I took the weekend off. I battled with the sensation that I needed to be somewhere, anywhere else. I think I've been doing this too long when I feel that way. But this coming weekend, I'm back to ... semi-normal.
THIS WEEKEND: This weekend sees the resumption of the 2017 Freelance Words Literary Assault at CIL-Con on September 8 & 9 at the Cross Country Mall in Mattoon, Illinois. Aside from MEEEEE, you'll meet an amazing array of authors, artists, actors, podcasters, craftspeople, and experts in the paranormal. Admission is FREE, so you now have NO reason not to attend!
I will host a panel on writing Saturday morning at 11 and will be part of a live podcast at 2 pm (or thereabouts) later that day. Come see me and let's talk about writing.
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