Wouldn't be a rose now, would it?! Seriously, though, what is in a name? At least, what's in a character's name? I've written and completed four novels, all of whom have names that I'm very happy with. Each of the characters came by their names in different ways; a name of a friend, heard the name on TV, or (my favorite) derived from a candy bar. However, recently one of my characters decided that he no longer wanted to be a Choctaw with long black hair and black eyes. Nope, now he wants to be a white male with short brown hair and dark blue eyes (think Sam Worthington). What?! I made you, you can't change your mind. Oh no, it doesn't stop there. Nope, he no longer wants the name Jason.
So here's the point of the story....I'm having a hell of a time naming him. I posed the question on Facebook and have received over thirty names. Yet none of them are good enough for the hero of my book.
Christy, the characters aren't real, honey. They're just a figment of your imagination. Oh, yeah, try telling that to them.
How do you come up with names for your characters? Do you have a list of your favorites? Do you pick from baby name books? Maybe the websites? Or do you let them tell you their name? I'm dying to know how other authors "develop" their characters. And not just the main ones, but the secondary ones, as well.
Characters usually come to me with a name. If not, I try to find one that just "feels" right. I very rarely do things like go through baby name books. The only time I do that is for the insignificant minor characters that I maybe know I'll never see again. But I'm very much guided by my intuition as a writer, and coming up with a name is part of that.
ReplyDeleteNow see...that would be so much easier if they would just behave! My characters usually come with their names, but nooooo, not this one!
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