Names, Names, Names

So I know I talked about names in my previous post about characters. But I like them so much I wanted to do another post on them. Only I wasn't really sure what to write about them. Loving something and knowing how to write about it are two different things.

So names. Why do I think names are so important to a story? Well think about the effect a name has on your impression of a person. When you hear a name you automatically get an idea about how the owner of that name looks, acts, and even thinks sometimes. Things like your past experiences have a big influence on how you look at the owner of a name. For example, I have an (unfortunate) dislike of the name Angela because of a particular childhood acquaintance. There are other names that I dislike because of my past as well. In fact, there are whole name books dedicated to looking at how names are perceived. My favorite is The Baby Name Survey by Bruce Lansky. My friends became slightly obsessed with it when they started looking up what the book said about their names. If you're curious, you should check it out. It's pretty amusing, and sometimes, scarily close to accurate.

I talked about how I choose names in my last post. I always find that part of the naming process one of the most enjoyable and frustrating parts of the whole character creation process. Sitting down with my pile of name books (one that has lots of unusual names and spelling variations, one that I can search for names by meaning, and one that I can just skim through for the more popular names), my laptop (babynamesworld.com has an excellent search function; babynamewizard.com has some amazing tools for checking popularity of names), and paper and pencil to jot down anything that strikes my fancy is my favorite way to spend some time. There are times I've spent an hour or more looking up names, comparing how they sound or feel, whether they fit with the idea of the character I have or if they make the character take an unexpected turn. Each part of this process is so fun to me.

Why do I spend so much time on the names? I mean besides being a little obsessed with names. Well I mentioned above how they change the way people see your character. To me, they help define the character. Until the character is named, it's almost like they don't really exist yet. Once they have that name, the name that says exactly the right thing about the character and their history and their place in the story, then they seem to be real to me. They come alive, ready to play their parts in the story.

So you see, names are one of the most important parts of creating a character, at least to me. It's also one of the most satisfying.

Short post, I know. But if I keep writing, I'll just start sounding crazier than I already do. :) See you on Thursday!