 Contests & Activities: September 18, 2024 Issue [#12746] |
This week: Character Names Edited by: spidey  
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Welcome to the Contests & Activities Newsletter. I'm spidey , and I'm your Editor this week!
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Character Names
I loved to write stories in high school, and I had a friend who wanted me to write him into one of my stories. It's rare for me to use a name of someone I know, now that I think about it! Do you ever use the name of someone you know?
What's in a name?
Names can have so much meaning behind them, whether it's a connection to a celebrity or historical figure or even a reference to someone you know or knew in your life. I often wonder how important names are to a story. In some cases, I feel like they can be interchangeable, but in others, they're quite central to the story's success.
How do you come up with character names?
There's the obvious ideas like online name generators or lists of baby names (that might be helpful if you're writing in the past and want to know popular names in that time period), or a telephone book could work if you somehow have one of those lying around! 
Names can denote culture and identity and they can place a character in time (or maybe not. Have you heard about the Tiffany problem? It's quite funny - The name feels very modern, but it was actually a common name in medieval Europe, just like the names Shane, Beverly, Wade and Nicola do not have modern origins!).
I personally try to avoid using names of people that I know, but I wonder how many other writers do that? Especially prolific writers. I would imagine they'd have to use the name of someone in their life eventually!
I suppose names have a certain "feel" to me, and I try to choose one that feels right.
How do you choose your names?
Take care, and as always, keep on writing! 
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Feedback from my last newsletter "Contests & Activities Newsletter (August 21, 2024)" }, which discussed character studies:
Generally speaking, I don't. They emerge from the stories as and when required. Just occasionally, I will build stories around a character who has occurred to me outside of any story. But they come to me already developed - I know who they are. Which probably means that they're based on people I have known. But, if so, it's an entirely unconscious process and I don't sit down and develop characters from nothing.
~ Beholden 
Very interesting! I love how writing can be so varied amongst writers! 
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How do you choose character names? Have you named a character after someone you know? |
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