Characterization Part I

I am behind on blog posts, I have decided to start a schedule for blog posts and FB Live posts. I will update each Sunday Morning before 11 AM my time, no matter which country or state I am in. This will be a good time for me, I hope it is a good time for you. From time to time I might change this schedule depending on if I am in a cool place to do a live feed for Facebook.Now to my regularly scheduled Blog post.Names. What is in a name? To me names are very important. I pick my names because I want to say something with the names of my Characters. When I pick a name, I have a vision in my head, I have a hard time finding the characters voice until I have a clear picture of them and their name. I feel names have the power to inform and project a feeling of personality on a character before you know anything about them. I have a hard time starting a story without my players having been named. Even if I name them something ordinary I will have a nickname in my head, at times written down, to remind me of their beginning personality.Symbols, I try to write with symbols in my stories. For me the first symbols I can place on the page is a name. Once something is named you give it power. It becomes something. It becomes real. Before it has a name, it is a phantom an unknown. No history or past, only present. If you want something truly foreign or unknown leave it unnamed. I feel the unknown is much creepier than the named. If a writer describes a man as tall dark and handsome then names them Wilbur, according to my wife an unsexy name, there is a reason, there is a story there. The name becomes the story or at least the start of a story.So, when I named Trevor, Crystal, and Shannon those names were chosen for a reason. Read the book if you want to find out why.