Writers, let's talk Characters

[Hazel]

I totally loved the part where he said "I've been waiting to shoot two of these at the same time!" ;) That was awesome.

I love making all different types of characters, and you really have to have them. In the book I'm writing now, I have the five main characters. One is kind of the same type of character as Gwendyrn, then I have the young joker, and angsty one with the hard past, and then harper/healer who's kind of the "adult" one of the group. You have to balance characters out with others, otherwise it would be boring to have them all the same.

[Mara]

Just remember how Horrible Histories portrayed the Franks in their "Danke Magazine" skit. ;)

Okay, I'm having trouble coming up with silly Dickens-ish names for my theatre troupe members. I need more memorable than "Mr. Mendleburg" and "Mayborough" and "Saltson."

[Hazel]

I have been thinking about that forever :P

How about Blinkinsop? I loved that name :P Jinglesby (I just made that up) Chucklesworth Tricklesford. Don't know if this is what you're looking for, but it is rather fun to come up with silly names like that ;)

[Mara]

Those are exactly the kinds of names I'm looking for - silly ones. Jinglesby is wonderful! May I keep it, and Tricklesford?

[Hazel]

Sure you can keep them, I just made them up on the spot ;P I have a notebook page where I keep names I either see or come up with and I'll never use them all anyway ;)

[Hazel]

Okay, I need help coming up with Victorian Street Urchin names. Any thoughts?

[K.L.]

Oliver twist had a lot of creative names for such characters. You might consider going with a nickname instead of an actual name.

In my YA novel, one of the very minor characters is named Piggs. It's just what his buddies call him.

[Hazel]

That's pretty much what I've been doing, I just haven't yet been able to come up with a name for my main urchin character. He's not the protagonist of the book, but he will have a good bit of time in it. I'd love to have time to read some Dickens for inspiration, but I'm still working on the editing process of my newest book.