Nicknames
I’m a personal believer in having nicknames for most or at least all of your characters. It’s a great way to characterize them and their relationship to other people, as well as a great opportunity to set the tone for your scene.
Nicknames everyone uses: His birth certificate says Benjamin, but everyone calls him Ben. This, by itself, isn’t terribly influential on your character or anything. But I thought I’d mention it since it’s the most basic form. It does add a bit more realism if you’re in a school (or possibly work) situation, and the teacher reads Benjamin off the attendance sheet. It wouldn’t be realistic for someone to read his ID card or passport or something and call him “Ben” right off the bat. They’ll refer to him as Benjamin if that’s what he reads. It’s a tiny detail, but I like tiny details.
Unusual nicknames everyone uses: Don’t give every character one of these. But a unique name can help a character stick out as long as you back them up with good development and a well-rounded personality. For example, his birth certificate says Benjamin, but everyone calls him Benji or Enji. But seriously, don’t think he’s automatically unique and original just because of his unusual name. It can be a nod to how he likes to avoid tradition.
Nicknames specific to certain relationships: His birth certificate says Benjamin, everyone at school calls him Ben, but his family members call him Benny. Maybe he’s annoyed by the family name, or maybe he likes it. It means a lot to him when he asks his long-time girlfriend to start calling him Benny because that, to him, shows that she’s almost like family. That’s the case for me, at least—everyone calls me Emilie, but my mom and one close friend call me Em sometimes. I kinda like that it’s a little less formal. Or, in another case, my uncle is Nick to basically everyone except in business situations. To anyone he hires or works with, he’s strictly Nicolas.
Nicknames specific to a certain type of character: As in, one character gives everyone a nickname. My character Sam gives a nickname to everyone she meets. To her, Alice is Allie and Vince is Vinny, as two examples. No one else calls Vince Vinny or Alice Allie. In her case, this helps show how laid back she is and how she’s not really formal with the people she meets.
Nicknames specific to the situation: Tangled did this best. In the beginning, Rapunzel introduces herself as “Rapunzel” and Flynn Rider jokingly replies, “Gesundheit.” From then on, partially teasingly and partially uncaringly, he calls her Blondie. He seems to wield it in an “I don’t care enough about you to remember or pronounce your real name.” At the end, though, when things get serious and he doesn’t know what happened to her, he cries out, “Rapunzel!” Reverting to her real name shows us that the situation is very serious and he actually does care about her.
–E
