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MattrickBT View Drop Down
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    Posted: 22 Sep 2017 at 9:10pm
This can be specific to NYCM or just your writing in general, but I am curious on how people approach naming their characters. Do you pick names that are symbolic in their meaning? Do you pay homage to another character or person? Do you just like it? Are you like how I used to be, struggling forever to pick a name, or do they just come out naturally?

I'm kind of a mix of everything. In my first book (which I first tried writing a decade ago) I named Lloyd, an alcoholic, after the ghost bartender in The Shining (and I named Lloyd's bartender Jonny to keep that going!). I named the heroin addict Andy after Toy Story because it's always sounded innocent to me. I then named many of the female character's in the novel as anagrams...Lloyd's ex-wife is Kate because he feels she 'took' everything from him in the divorce. An abused woman is Amy because she's always in the state that she 'may' leave him, and another character is named Erin because she literally "reins" in another character from taking drastic action. I named a homeless man Herb (because of addiction). Even all the street names are brands of alcohol. There are no last names until the end, and if you look up the name meanings for Mallory, Wainwright, and Sanders, there's some symbolism for their characters.

In my second book, I didn't really put anything thought into the names at all. I named a mayor after Roger Deakins, my favourite cinematographer, and one character Tevin because of the character in "I Love You, Man" who just such a flagrant douche. Funnily enough, as I neared the end (I'm a pantser, so no plotting or planning) I discovered that the last name 'Greene' actually had more significance than I imagined. I wrote one character growing up in southern Pennsylvania and what the landscape was like etc, but...long story short, one character is a psychopath and crushed animal heads with a rock, but has no memory due to therapy "torture"...it turns out that the rock I chose for them to use, Kimberlite, is naturally found in one specific area of Southern Pennsylvania, Greene County, and one character's fake name is tied to the forgotten past of the other to make them remember. On top of it all, before I knew any of this or that the psychopath was obsessed with Kimberlite, I'd already named their daughter Kimberly...I found all these perfect coincidences to be one of the spookiest yet coolest writing experiences ever. What a night that was!

I've got more explanation on my name choices, but I'll reply later.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Balabean Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2017 at 9:36pm
I just write whatever pops into my head! No science behind it for me because it's going to be transparent to someone.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote De Chelonian Mobile Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2017 at 9:36pm
I don't have a system. Sometimes the names I use are based on how they sound aloud (I write comedy). A funny sounding name for a character can be good, but I usually save funny names for the 'straight man'. I generally like to use mundane names for the comic foil. Absurdity is always better when it is wrapped in the mundane. Sometimes they are just names I like. Sometimes they have significance.

When I write short stories I almost always give a character or two the first or last name of a friend or relative, as an homage.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote nixie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2017 at 9:51pm
My family has native roots - I grew up with a thing about names having weight and meaning, and a strong sense of symbolism.  While I will occasionally give a character a throwaway name that 'sounds good' in the sentence, they generally have meaning, sometimes layers of meaning. 

Edited by nixie - 22 Sep 2017 at 9:51pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mickey T Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2017 at 9:59pm
I am incredibly particular when it comes to this. Sometimes I'll spend more time naming characters than writing the story they're involved in Ermm

Something has to stick. Whether it's a personality trait that reminds me of someone whose name I'll then "borrow" for the character. The names need to have a cadence that sits well with me. Also, no two names can sound alike.

When I'm sourcing, I'll sometimes jump on Facebook and search my friends list—and their friends lists—for potential names. The other thing I do is go to imdb and search for a movie in line with the story I'm writing (say, "Dawn Of The Dead" if I'm writing about zombies) and search the cast and crew for names.  


Edited by Mickey T - 22 Sep 2017 at 10:02pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote djkfdm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2017 at 10:03pm
For me, it depends on the story. For these short, quick stories, I usually do whatever name pops into my head. For instance, in the fairy tale from the first round, my main character's name happened to be my dad's name. I didn't plan it that way; it just happened. But the antagonist's name, "Oliviar," came out of "rival." The names in this second round came out of nowhere. No significance. No thought to it all. In the book I'm working on, the main character's name came from the Bible story that inspired the book idea. "Benji Gera" came from the Bible character, Ehud, son of Gera, from the tribe of Benjamin. In general, though, I don't spend a lot of time choosing the name of a character.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote ottersdaughter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2017 at 10:03pm
For me it varies. There are some names I just really like the sound of, but those are mostly characters in several longer works that I may never get finished.

Other than that, I usually pick names for a reason. Usually it tells you something about the character - take for instance the Edmund (prosperous protector) I had saving another character and turning out to be unexpectedly wealthy. It's not always quite so literal. And it's sometimes just for context like it was in my challenge 2 mystery: most of the characters had Finnish names to subtly reinforce that this was a very small town with a pretty homogenous population. Finnish only because I spent too much time researching saunas, but any set of names from a specific country or culture would've worked.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mickey T Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2017 at 10:14pm
One of the characters I created was a foppish toff called Nigel Leacham, who was actually a celestial in human guise on Earth. His name is an anagram for 'Angel Michael'. That took a while to beat out LOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ASharedNarrative Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2017 at 10:41pm
I can never name characters after people I actually know.

That's about the sum total of my limitations I put on myself.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GallifreyGirl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2017 at 10:50pm
My characters' names generally have meaning based on the story. For example, in my round 1 story, all three of the mermaids -- Meredith, Nerissa, and Jenny -- have sea-based names (in the expansion it comes to light that these are names their human captors gave to them, and not actually their names in their own language, which are revealed in flashback and also have a very important meaning to the character of each).

In some of my shorter pieces that are written in first person, the narrator's name isn't revealed in the story, but I 100% have named every character I've ever written. Sometimes when the writing isn't going the way it's supposed to, it's because my poor character has the wrong name. I have changed characters' names in the past and had things come together much better afterwards.
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