BLOG TOUR: Name that character, with Dawn Colclasure
Author Dawn Colclasure is hosting my Flower Child Blog Tour today with a post on the parallel joys of math and writing http://dawncolclasureblog.blogspot.com/. Meanwhile I'm delighted to host Dawn here in yet another intersecting blog tour.
About the author: Dawn Colclasure is a writer who lives in Oregon. Herarticles, essays, poems and short stories have appeared in several newspapers,anthologies, magazines and E-zines. She is the author of seven books, amongthem BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL: How WeSurvive as Writing Parents; 365 TIPSFOR WRITERS: Inspiration, Writing Prompts and Beat The Block Tips to TurboCharge Your Creativity; Love is Likea Rainbow: Poems of Love and Devotion and the children's book The Yellow Rose. She is co-author of thebook Totally Scared: The Complete Book onHaunted Houses. Her dark fantasy novel, Shadowof Samhain, is due out in Winter 2011. Her Web site is at http://dmcwriter.tripod.com/
Over to you Dawn, and thank you for visiting my blog and hosting my tour. I know this is going to be blogpost I'll come back to again and again--naming my characters always feels like the hardest part of writing, as if by inventing them I've given them the right to choose their own names, and nothing I come up with is good enough.
How to Come Up with Character Names
Character names are probably more important than the titleof your novel or short story collection. The names you give to your charactersshould "fit" them in some way. By "fit," I mean ethnically, characteristically(their name's meaning describes them or their personalities match their names)or creatively (it goes with the story's genre). Your character's name shouldalso be something that readers will remember them by. A name of "Joe Smith"isn't very memorable, least of all important. But a name like Ellerby James orBlake Kristoffsen are names that stand out.
But when trying to come up with a name for their character, what'sa writer to do in finding them? Here are some of the things that I do:
Name books. Youknow those little "baby naming books" they sell in the checkout aisle atgrocery stores? I have been known to page through them a time or two – but notbecause I was expecting a little bundle of joy. It was because I was on thehunt for a good character name. One character naming book I used to cling toand make notes in was Character NamingSourcebook, by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet. This is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Digest-Character-Naming-Sourcebook/dp/0898796326. Alas, I lost my copy of this book in one of my moves to a newhome, but I've plans to pick up a new copy soon.
Baby naming web sites.Thanks to technology, finding a name for characters is just a click away. Youcan visit sites such as Baby Names (Signs, advertisementsand flyers. Don't throw out your junk mail just yet; check out that letterendorsing a group or that flyer advertising a company special to see if thereare any unusual or interesting names lurking within those pages. While I wasvisiting mt brother in L.A. one day some years ago, I saw a sign encouragingpeople to "vote for Napolitini." That name really caught my eye and I laterused it in my NaNo manuscript.
The people you know.This trick can work in two ways. The first way is to use the names of peopleyou know for character names. If you can't come up with a name for yourcharacter as you are writing the first draft of your story, use names of peopleyou know. Then, as you revise your story later and have your character fleshedout better, choose a different name. The second way this works is by talkingwith friends or family members about character names. Ask for theirsuggestions. I once asked a friend of mine if I could use her last name for thename of a character in Shadow of Samhainand she gave me her blessing. (This kind of thing can be tricky. For a minorcharacter, it's not so much of a risk. However, for a major character, oneneeds to be careful. In my forthcoming book, The Ghost of Sarah Travers, I have a character in that story namedVincent. The thing of it is, this character appeared in the story lookingexactly like my daughter's friend, who happens to be named Vincent! I receivedpermission from his father to proceed with the name, but I'm playing it safehere. No, I won't "baby" this character and make sure nothing bad happens tohim, but I will make sure he is a character the real Vincent will think ispretty cool and something he'll be proud of. All the same, I'm writing thesestories praying I won't be hit with a lawsuit someday. "How dare you make myson's character dance with a ghost in Book Two!")
Use throwaway names.Throwaway names are names that don't make the cut. If you know a writer whodecides not to use a name for a character but it's a name you are crazy about,use it yourself. The same goes when someone suggests a baby name that youreally like but the expecting mother doesn't like the name at all. In anotherexample, one of my sisters recently had a baby and my cousin posted the wrongmiddle name. I liked the middle name, but spelled differently. Once I learnedthis was not the correct name, I added this name to my list of future characternames.
Read, read, read.When I was working on earlier drafts for Shadowof Samhain, I needed a name for one of my characters. Nothing seemed tohelp me come up with a name but I pressed onward hoping to find one eventually.During my research on Druidism, I came across the name of a priest "Jovan." Iliked that name, but spelled with an "I" instead. Thus, the name "Jovin" wascreated for my character, and it fit him perfectly.
Let your characterspick the names. I Know this sounds crazy. How dare we writers allow ourcharacters to choose their own names? But, a lot of the times, our charactersknow what kind of name they should have. In fact, many of my characters havecome to me fully developed and with their own names. Sometimes I get the namefrom them quite easily (as with my character Janay) but sometimes I'll need todo some prodding and encouraging to get the names out of them (such as with mycharacter Alice Crenshaw). And speakingof characters in Shadow of Samhain, Iwas recently asked to change the name of the character John. The pairing of"John/Jonathan" in the story might confuse readers, so I had to change thename. In order to figure out what name to use, I turned to John's mother,Janay. I "put myself into her mindset" so to speak and asked her what shewould've named her firstborn. To my surprise, she had really wanted to name herson something else: Tom. This name has special meaning to her, because as a teen, her older brother, Tom, had beenkilled by a drug dealer during a traffic stop. (Tom was a police officer.)She'd been close to her brother and his murder had always been hard for her toaccept. So "Tom" was the name she preferred for her firstborn child.
The above strategies are just some of the tricks I use toname my characters. There are lots of other ways, of course; playing aroundwith words, using anagrams or even getting the name from your dreams. Take sometime to think about character names because they are an important part of yourcharacter and can add value to your story. With the right name for yourcharacter, your story has a better chance of leaving a lasting impression onyour readers and encourage them to keep coming back for more.
Thank you Dawn. I really enjoyed reading this. A great topic, and I loved reading how John/Tom got his name!
About the author: Dawn Colclasure is a writer who lives in Oregon. Herarticles, essays, poems and short stories have appeared in several newspapers,anthologies, magazines and E-zines. She is the author of seven books, amongthem BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL: How WeSurvive as Writing Parents; 365 TIPSFOR WRITERS: Inspiration, Writing Prompts and Beat The Block Tips to TurboCharge Your Creativity; Love is Likea Rainbow: Poems of Love and Devotion and the children's book The Yellow Rose. She is co-author of thebook Totally Scared: The Complete Book onHaunted Houses. Her dark fantasy novel, Shadowof Samhain, is due out in Winter 2011. Her Web site is at http://dmcwriter.tripod.com/
Over to you Dawn, and thank you for visiting my blog and hosting my tour. I know this is going to be blogpost I'll come back to again and again--naming my characters always feels like the hardest part of writing, as if by inventing them I've given them the right to choose their own names, and nothing I come up with is good enough.How to Come Up with Character Names
Character names are probably more important than the titleof your novel or short story collection. The names you give to your charactersshould "fit" them in some way. By "fit," I mean ethnically, characteristically(their name's meaning describes them or their personalities match their names)or creatively (it goes with the story's genre). Your character's name shouldalso be something that readers will remember them by. A name of "Joe Smith"isn't very memorable, least of all important. But a name like Ellerby James orBlake Kristoffsen are names that stand out.
But when trying to come up with a name for their character, what'sa writer to do in finding them? Here are some of the things that I do:
Name books. Youknow those little "baby naming books" they sell in the checkout aisle atgrocery stores? I have been known to page through them a time or two – but notbecause I was expecting a little bundle of joy. It was because I was on thehunt for a good character name. One character naming book I used to cling toand make notes in was Character NamingSourcebook, by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet. This is the link: http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Digest-Character-Naming-Sourcebook/dp/0898796326. Alas, I lost my copy of this book in one of my moves to a newhome, but I've plans to pick up a new copy soon.
Baby naming web sites.Thanks to technology, finding a name for characters is just a click away. Youcan visit sites such as Baby Names (Signs, advertisementsand flyers. Don't throw out your junk mail just yet; check out that letterendorsing a group or that flyer advertising a company special to see if thereare any unusual or interesting names lurking within those pages. While I wasvisiting mt brother in L.A. one day some years ago, I saw a sign encouragingpeople to "vote for Napolitini." That name really caught my eye and I laterused it in my NaNo manuscript.
The people you know.This trick can work in two ways. The first way is to use the names of peopleyou know for character names. If you can't come up with a name for yourcharacter as you are writing the first draft of your story, use names of peopleyou know. Then, as you revise your story later and have your character fleshedout better, choose a different name. The second way this works is by talkingwith friends or family members about character names. Ask for theirsuggestions. I once asked a friend of mine if I could use her last name for thename of a character in Shadow of Samhainand she gave me her blessing. (This kind of thing can be tricky. For a minorcharacter, it's not so much of a risk. However, for a major character, oneneeds to be careful. In my forthcoming book, The Ghost of Sarah Travers, I have a character in that story namedVincent. The thing of it is, this character appeared in the story lookingexactly like my daughter's friend, who happens to be named Vincent! I receivedpermission from his father to proceed with the name, but I'm playing it safehere. No, I won't "baby" this character and make sure nothing bad happens tohim, but I will make sure he is a character the real Vincent will think ispretty cool and something he'll be proud of. All the same, I'm writing thesestories praying I won't be hit with a lawsuit someday. "How dare you make myson's character dance with a ghost in Book Two!")
Use throwaway names.Throwaway names are names that don't make the cut. If you know a writer whodecides not to use a name for a character but it's a name you are crazy about,use it yourself. The same goes when someone suggests a baby name that youreally like but the expecting mother doesn't like the name at all. In anotherexample, one of my sisters recently had a baby and my cousin posted the wrongmiddle name. I liked the middle name, but spelled differently. Once I learnedthis was not the correct name, I added this name to my list of future characternames.
Read, read, read.When I was working on earlier drafts for Shadowof Samhain, I needed a name for one of my characters. Nothing seemed tohelp me come up with a name but I pressed onward hoping to find one eventually.During my research on Druidism, I came across the name of a priest "Jovan." Iliked that name, but spelled with an "I" instead. Thus, the name "Jovin" wascreated for my character, and it fit him perfectly.
Let your characterspick the names. I Know this sounds crazy. How dare we writers allow ourcharacters to choose their own names? But, a lot of the times, our charactersknow what kind of name they should have. In fact, many of my characters havecome to me fully developed and with their own names. Sometimes I get the namefrom them quite easily (as with my character Janay) but sometimes I'll need todo some prodding and encouraging to get the names out of them (such as with mycharacter Alice Crenshaw). And speakingof characters in Shadow of Samhain, Iwas recently asked to change the name of the character John. The pairing of"John/Jonathan" in the story might confuse readers, so I had to change thename. In order to figure out what name to use, I turned to John's mother,Janay. I "put myself into her mindset" so to speak and asked her what shewould've named her firstborn. To my surprise, she had really wanted to name herson something else: Tom. This name has special meaning to her, because as a teen, her older brother, Tom, had beenkilled by a drug dealer during a traffic stop. (Tom was a police officer.)She'd been close to her brother and his murder had always been hard for her toaccept. So "Tom" was the name she preferred for her firstborn child.
The above strategies are just some of the tricks I use toname my characters. There are lots of other ways, of course; playing aroundwith words, using anagrams or even getting the name from your dreams. Take sometime to think about character names because they are an important part of yourcharacter and can add value to your story. With the right name for yourcharacter, your story has a better chance of leaving a lasting impression onyour readers and encourage them to keep coming back for more.
Thank you Dawn. I really enjoyed reading this. A great topic, and I loved reading how John/Tom got his name!
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