“Letitia! What a name. Halfway between a salad and a sneeze.” ― Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight
“Jason scratched his head. “You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, ‘festus’ means ‘happy’? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?” ― Rick Riordan, The Lost Hero
I taught some writing classes at the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference Friday and Saturday. And yes, we all wore name tags. Teaching isn’t something I’ve done a lot. I could probably count how often on my hands without bothering with taking off my shoes to keep counting on my toes the way Jethro used to on the Beverly Hillbillies.
From what I could tell from various conversations, the other instructors there had taught at writing conferences many times. Be that as it may, I worked up some PowerPoint aides and printed out my notes I’d used at other times, and headed out to do some teaching or at least sharing.
The PowerPoint aides were wonderfully helpful once I figured out how to project them on the big screen for my classes. One of the men in my first class helped me avoid the unpleasant possibility that I’d gone to all that trouble to make the presentation and couldn’t use it. By the third class, I almost got everything going without a hitch. Almost. But it got done.
One of my classes was about creating characters. A very important part of writing. In my opinion, the most important part. Readers need characters to pull them into stories. What is a story without people (Elena Bradford) or personified animals (Winnie the Pooh) or some inanimate thing (Thomas the train) with a name to pull us down the story path.
I did print out and carry with me all that wonderful information I’d gathered about coming up with characters who come to life in an author’s words. And as almost always, I never remember to say half of what I’ve written down. Great stuff, but once I’m in front of writers hoping I have wisdom for them, I lose the notes and just talk about what I have discovered in writing my own stories. Except that found wisdom I have put on that PowerPoint. So it’s not all lost.
One of the things that I only touched on briefly but that is an important step when I’m coming up with new characters is their names. For me, naming a character is an important way of bringing him or her to life in my head. I take a lot of care with naming my own characters.
Here’s a bit from those notes on creating characters that I didn’t remember to say in my class.
Names can set a mental image of your character even before the first bit of description is written. So you should be careful how you name your major characters. Anything too cute might get tiresome for the reader. Anything too strange or difficult to pronounce might be too difficult to remember. At least they are for me when I’m reading.
If your character is strong in body or character, you might not want to name her or him Willow or Selbert. I like the name Willow, but for me it does bring up a certain image and not one of a take charge woman. The same with Selbert.
I always want my characters to be happy with his/her name unless, of course, that’s part of his/her challenges. Living with a name they don’t like. I have sometimes been pages into a story before the character stays flat and lets me know that his or her name is simply not right. At those times, thank heavens for the find and replace feature on my word processor.
I often use baby name books to consider names. I like knowing a name’s origin and what the name means. I like a name that has the right sound when I say it aloud and that brings forth the proper mental image. Of course my mental image of a name and yours can be very different because of the people we may have known who had that name. One of my name books has an article claiming that parents can insure their child’s success in life by picking the proper strong names.
I also jot possible names down and put first names and last names together to see how the names look and sound. If there is going to be romance with the chance my leading lady will end up married, I try out her first name with the potential partner’s last name. While I do often want my name to fit my character’s personality, sometimes I pick a name that is opposite to their character.
Take Aunt Love in my Hollyhill books. Jocie thinks calling her cranky aunt Love is something of a misnomer. Then there is Perdita Sweet. Sweet she is not. Also when I told a writer friend I planned to call my old woman Perdita, she warned that might be a mistake. You see, she knows Latin and in Latin the name means a lost or fallen woman.
From Latin perdita (“lost woman”). Noun. perdita (plural perditas). (archaic) A woman who has fallen into prostitution.
My Perdita Sweet was cranky but not fallen. I used the name in spite of my friend’s doubts of the wisdom of doing so in hopes that most readers wouldn’t think about the Latin meaning and only about how the name just seems perfect for my character. At least I thought so.
Then there are times when the name is the first thing in my mind about a character. That was true with Ada June. That name was the sole inspiration for a young girl who didn’t have a family but so wanted one in my book The Song of Sourwood Mountain. She was alive for me at the sound of her name.
By now, after publishing 40 books and writing others that were never published at least not yet, names can swirl about in my head. My first published book way back in 1978 had Sarah as the main female character and Matthew Stoner as the main mail character. I think Sarah’s last name was Douglas, but I’d have to dig out the book to be sure. I remember another character was Cave Hawkins.
I can’t instantly remember the names in all my books. But here are some I do. Tansy, Granny Em, Adria, Ruth, Mira, Jacci, Calla and Sienna, to name a few. Hmm, what about the guys? David, Michael, Gordon, Kirby. Of course, we have the animals. Jasper (a dog). Two Bits (a cat). Clementine (a llama). Bo (a dog). Asher (a dog). Zebedee (a dog). Sugar/Jezebel (a cat.) Shadrach (a horse). I could probably go on and on remembering those fictional animals.
“And when someone else speaks your name you feel pleased. You feel wanted. You feel there. Alive. Even if they’re saying your name with dislike, at least you know you’re you, that you exist.”
― Now I Know
And when I name a character and begin his or her story, I feel them come alive in my imagination.
Do you like your own name? Or what name would you like to have instead?
Maybe that’s a question I should ask my characters.
Comments 14
I think I like my name. It would seem very odd if I were called something else.
Author
I suppose we all come to that point, Connie, although some people do change their names when they get older. Perhaps stop using nicknames or think they need a more formal name.
When I was little, I wished my name was Lucy (The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was my favorite book). But I can’t imagine being called anything other than my name now.
I bought a couple of baby name books for my writing, they’re probably one of the best resources I have.
Author
I love my name book even though it’s falling apart, Marti. I bought another one, but it just didn’t seem to give me the same inspiration for names.
It’s fun that you wished your name was Lucy after the Lucy in your favorite book. My dad used to say he should have named my Lucy, but I was always glad he didn’t. I didn’t have the pleasure of having the Narnia books to make me fonder of the name. I just thought of “I Love Lucy.” 🙂
I do like my name! I (and my three older sisters) were given names that matched our Daddy’s initials. Mom decided since they didn’t have a boy to name after Daddy, she would give us names so we’d all have his initials.
Author
That’s neat, Trudy. And I know a lot of families that name their children all with the name beginning initial. Sometimes with the mother’s or father’s initial. I didn’t do that with my kids. Everybody has their own unique initials except for my youngest son who shares a first initial with his dad. My daughter didn’t particularly like her initials. They spelled out TAG. I didn’t even think about that when I was naming her.
I suppose I like my name. It has never bothered me. I have never wished that my mom had given more thought to the name. My name is Sharon Lynn and Inhave had it for 81 years.
Do do like yours? If not, what other name would you like to have?
Author
Sounds as if your name has served you well through the years, Sharon. Sharon Lynn has a very nice sound. That’s something I try for when naming characters – the sound of the names together.
Your question has me thinking. I may do some more thinking and share the answer in Wednesday night’s post.
I LOVE my name, Susan, because I was named after my grandmother, Susie. Of course, I am just like her! I was very close to her until she went to heaven when I was in college. My grandfather died before I was one, so that was another reason we were so close. She taught me a lot of great skills.
Author
It’s wonderful that you love your name, Susan, and even better that you and your grandmother who passed her name down to you shared so much love and good times.
Hi Ann,
I agree 100% with you that the name of a character is one key to writing a successful story or novel. As you so correctly noted, once this writer settles on the name for a particular character, that character comes alive in my mind and a vision of their life–past, present, and future–begins to unfold for me and my readers. Excellent point!!
Author
Fun to know, Chris, that you have a similar way to mine in how your characters come to life in your mind and stories. In the process of naming a character, I begin to see them more clearly.
When I was in 5th grade, for some reason I decided I didn’t like my name. I’d been named after my great-grandmother, who was a stiff French woman, and I didn’t think she really liked me. I wanted to be named Crystal, after my mom’s birthmother, who died of TB when my mom was 5 years old! I even put that name on some of the papers I turned in, but my teacher figured out who it was 🙂 I’m happy with Margaret now, but look back at my 5th grade self with tender thoughts. If I’d had a daughter, I would have named her Crystal.
Author
I was probably about the same age as you when I began to think my name was very plain, Margaret. At least that’s when I began noticing names more. I can understand you being a little resentful because you felt as if your great grandmother didn’t like you when perhaps subconsciously you thought she should like you better because you were named after her. Crystal is a lovely name and I can understand why you would have liked it. Neat that your teacher knew you were Crystal/Margaret. 🙂 And it sounds as if the name Crystal is still a name you remember fondly.