Did he have blonde hair or black . . .?

I read and critiqued a friend’s manuscript the other week.  I read all of it, from beginning to end, and even though it was really good, the one major thing I had to point out was the bombshell at the end that her protagonist had black hair.  Not a major bombshell, but when you’ve read through the entire book picturing the protagonist as one thing only to find out he’s something else, it's a bit of a shock.  As it turned out with my friend, she was brilliant at describing the weird and unusual – and it was a fantasy so there was a lot of that - but anything everyday and mundane she inadvertently neglected. 

This brought up the topic of description.  Info dumps are never really a good thing.  There are far better ways to add description than by saying “He was 6ft something, blue eyes, black hair and a few days’ worth of stubble on his chin”;

“He brushed a hand through his thick black hair…”

“His blue eyes turned wide with shock…”

I won’t go on.  I’m pretty sure you get the drift.  Anyway, it also helps to actually know your character physically.  For every character I create a little bio.  Nothing mega, just height, hair colour, style, eye colour, age.  This way when you need to mention it and you’ve forgotten it, you don’t have to go hunting through your manuscript trying to find the last place you mentioned it.  It also avoids inconsistencies.

Another idea is to add an actual face to your characters.  By this I mean finding a tv/movie star and basing your characters around them (I call this a dream team).  Sometimes though, if your characters are born before you allocate them a famous face, it can be hard to find someone suitable to fit the role, and sometimes you may have to come to terms with the fact that you’ll never find someone suitable – unless you spend hours trolling the web when you should be writing!

I’ve only found one face for one of my characters.  He’s no one famous.  He’s a model for the firm I work for.  But as soon as I saw him in those images I knew. 

Meet Devon McCormick.  

Image courtesy of Brora.co.uk

An Idea If You're Struggling To Name Your Characters . . .

Peggy Eddleman over at Will Write For Cookies (love that title) wrote an interesting post the other day about names and choosing the right name for your character. There were some good comments too.

The mind works differently for everyone. For some, names come easily, names that fit their character perfectly, but for others it isn't as easy. Characters may start off with a name but by the end may have gone through several different ones because the last just didn't fit.

So how do you find the perfect name for your character?

I fit in the catagory where names come easily to me. I've never changed half way through a WIP. Once I've created a character and given them a name, it's like I've created a living, breathing person. I can't change their name half way through. For me, that's like changing a kid's name when they reach six years old because you feel you prefer another. Once I've named a character, it sticks.

But I don't give my characters any old name. Just like the plot, it takes planning and tweaking. As many of you know, I'm always plotting and planning, and as I write my current WIP, I'm working out and tweaking the next. Along with this comes characterisation. Within this time I explore my character's personality and learn who they are. They grow and evolve, and more often than not they do this before your very eyes without you realising. All of a sudden your characters are real, and when they get to that stage they tell you their name.

But if it doesn't work like that for you, then it's down to you to play parent and choose.

One idea on how to choose is to look at your character's background. Who were the parents? We're they busy business people? Family orientated people? Or maybe even go-with-the-flow-laid-back people? Having a rough idea of the environment where your character grew up can help a huge amount. Someone who is brought up in an environment where society plays a big part, where trends are there to be followed, or someone surrounded by traditionalists will more than likely have been given a popular name.

If there is someone famous who influenced the family household, could they have been named after them? For example, years ago in the British soap, Eastenders, Alfie Moon played by Shane Ritchie, graced our screens. He was a huge hit and after that little Alfies started springing up left, right and centre.

Did your character grow up in an environment like that? Were they named after their mother's dream date?

Or were the parents gypsy travellers or people who refused to follow the paths that society expected? The names they choose would be unusual and uncommon; something that matches their surroundings.


However, if you like the uncommon name, it would be wise not to choose something too long or awkward to read. Remember, you have to type this name for an entire novel, and if a reader is faced with a name that can't be pronounced, it can be off-putting.

You don't need to go overboard when working out your character's history. You only need to touch the surface. And by doing this, you also get to learn a lot more about the person you intend to write about; you get to see what drives them, where their passions came from, their fears and their hatred. It gives them reason and this gives them depth and makes them feel more real to the reader.

How 'NOT' To Name Your Characters . . .

A friend of mine posted a link to an article on Facebook yesterday which did make me laugh. It was all about names and how some unfortunate people were given embarrassing forenames to match their embarrassing surnames.

We all (or rather the people I know anyway) make jokes about names such as Ben Dover or Wayne King (sorry) or even the famous Pussy Galore from James Bond, but did you know these are real names?

It seems many of our ancestors often imposed these humorous names on their offspring. Two hundred years ago there was nothing funny about them, but as society evolved so did language and slang. As the years went by people began to see the horror of what their name sounded like and many changed it. Women often refused to marry to avoid gaining a ridiculous name (Seymour Bust) or vice-versa to rid themselves of one (Kitty Litter), and slowly but surely many names have gone into decline or disappeared altogether.

Even though in real life, having a name like Mike Rotch can make your existence a miserable one, in writing it can be a completely different story. One genre that can use humorous names to its advantage is Comedy. Just by naming one character something like Sue Age can give the story an added sparkle (or not as the character is aptly named) and be a theme for a running joke. However, by using such a name in a Tragedy just won't work.

Anyway, I've decided, for those who see the humour in humorous names, to list a few that was listed in this article. I hope they bring a smile to your face like it did with mine. But before you start laughing, crying, reaching for your tissues or falling off your chair and rolling around the floor, give a thought to the poor people who actually had to live with these names (Tssss hssss hsss hssss....)

Sue Age

Ben Dover

John Anonymous

Love A. Duck

Golden Balls

Elle Fant

Lettuce Bedlam

Sue Flay

Alfred Ming Belcher

Ebenezer Flirt

Benjamin Blister

Adolph Fuhrer

One Too Many Gouldstone

Rogers Boys

Anice Bottom

Dicky Hart

Seymour Bust

Adeline Louisa Maria Horsey De Horsey

Ann Inch

Violet Corpse

Levi Jeans

Sidney Kidney

Al Dente

Annette Kirton

Basil Leaf

Jim Slip

Kitty Litter

Mary Slutty

John Mental

Constance Smell

Posthumous Mince

Min Speiss

Horase Jealous Pratt

Amorous Swain

Fartamalus Purdger

Pleasant Titty

Sensitive Redhead

Doris Topless

Mike Rotch

Batty Treasure

Lotta Rump

Gusty Sandbag

Fanny Warmer

Samuel Squelch Shakespear

Isla White

Mary Winkle Shufflebotham

Elizabeth Experience Withall

R. Sitch

Mary Xmas

Pic of the Week . . . Schizophrenia

I finished the second part of 'Son of Jack' last night. I didn't think I would, but it was one of those evenings when I kept thinking "Just a little bit more - I'll just finish this bit," and before I knew it - well, at 1am - I finished. 30k. I was more than happy with that.

Normally when writing a novel, I plan my characters out so that I know more about them, thus being able to portray them better and keeping up with continuity. For 'Son of Jack' I haven't had the time to do that. Because I'm on a tight schedule to get the book finished, I've just jumped in the deep end. I hadn't done any prep work for my character Dan Pattman, but knew that he had to have a disorder and had to have a voice in his head.

Now, I'm ashamed to say that I don't know lots about Schizophrenia, and even as I started writing, the disorder never even entered my head. It wasn't until about a week ago whilst looking something up that I come across a website that highlighted the symptoms. It was then that I realised Dan was an undiagnosed schizophrenic. It was a huge surprise to me, and as I looked back at certain points in the story, things started to make sense.

Having put myself in the mind of such a person, I am now more the wiser of what they go through - okay, it may not be much, but I have a better understanding. So today I thought I'd dedicate this week's Pic of the Week to schizophrenia in hopes of creating more awareness.

Have a great weekend.