I'm drawing today's blog inspiration from the list of 101 Blog Post Ideas for Writers. Let me know if you do the same!
Today's topic: Character names
I used to spend hours
coming up with the perfect character names. I’d look at baby name websites and
keep lists of my favorites. I’d find a meaning to match my character’s
personality.
Now? I’m lazy. Or I’m more preoccupied with plotting/outlining. Or I’m desperate to come up with some type of story 24 hours before my workshop. So character names get put on the back burner. Lately, I’ve pulled a lot of my stories from real life experiences and I just slap characters with the same names as the people I’ve based them on, convinced I’ll go back and change them when I have time. And then I just never do, and I become accustomed to typing their name and don’t want to change it. It’s a problem. I’m going to have so many people suing me if I get published.
How do you pick names for your characters?
I'm still a spend-hours-on-baby-name-websites gal. It's funny, though: with my MCs, the names usually pop into my head randomly and then it's like I can't even imagine those characters as anyone else. It's the supporting cast that I end up spending forever on, though I do make sure to research meanings for everyone. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's how you know the MC's name is perfect, when you can't imagine them as anyone else! :)
DeleteI am totally lazy. I picked an A for a girl and a B for a boy and then C for their last name and D for the other last name and so on. I might start out with a and b for first names and y and z for last names. I mean it-I am LAZY. So, Amanda Brown and Charlie Davis and Anne Zimmer and Bobby Wilson become great characters because I didn't worry too much over their names!!! hahahaa!
ReplyDeleteI've done something similar to that before, too. "GIRL" and "BOY" and "MOM" and "DAD". They get real names eventually! Although it might be interesting to read a book with labels like that as names instead...
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