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.

Opening Sentences . . .

A friend of mine brought up a subject last night regarding opening sentences. He wanted, in our opinion, an example of a bad opening sentence. Of course, off the top of our heads we couldn't think of one - but a few good ones did come to mind.

The opening sentence is usually the hardest part to write for a writer, especially a noob who is sitting at their desk with a blank page, wanting to start something that'll make them their fortune (they'll find out the hard truth in their own time). They can envisage a whole story before their very eyes; they know their characters, know their setting, know their predicaments - but what words do they use to introduce them all? How do you write that all important first sentence?

There are many ways you can start a book off. This all depends on your story and how you want to tell it. For me, I like sentences that drop you in it. As soon as you open the first page, you're chin deep in action. With many action scenes, one of the best ways to keep the tension is by using short sentences, so my opening sentences are pretty short.

“Get those god-damn sails in!”

These are the very firsts words to my current WIP. It's an order so instantly you know you're smack bang in the middle of something. The use of the words 'god-damn' kind of indicate the speakers frustration, and the exclamation mark tells of the order's importance (at least that's what I hope it portrays).

For me, I like the shorter opening sentence, but lets look a random few from some randomly selected and successful authors:

1: A whispered name.

A ghostly whisper fit for James Herbert's novel 'Haunted'.

2: The trawler plunged into the angry swells of the dark, furious sea like an awkward animal trying desperately to break out of an impenetrable swamp.

Okay, it puts you in the middle of something ferocious, but the opening sentence to Robert Ludlow's 'The Bourne Identity' is a tad long for my preference. Fantastic read though.

3: The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.

A fantastic opening to one of my all-time favourite reads, 'The Dark Tower' by Stephen King.

4: I am the vampire Lestat.

Anne Rice's character introduces himself immediately in her novel 'The Vampire Lestat' - another good read.

5: Norma ran.

Instantly you're thrown into the action in Rod Rees's first novel 'The Demi-Monde: Winter (yet another good read. Go check his blog out).

6: There was a smattering of applause as Malcolm Fox entered the room.

Hmmm...what has Malcolm done to warrant this applaud. Ian Rankin's 'The Complaints'.

7: A killer stalked the shadows.

Is he? Who is he and will he succeed? Jon Sprunk's 'Shadow's Son'. Can't wait to finally read the sequel, 'Shadow's Lure'.

8: Once...Upon...A...death, when life for Thom Kindred was fading fast and his inner eyes, the eyes that focused from his soul, were already dazzled by the shining way ahead (was the brilliance approaching him, or was he approaching it? he wondered in a curiously detached way), when his twenty-seven years apparently were drawing to a close, something occurred that halted the untimely rush.

Hmm hmmm...never noticed this when I read James Herbert's 'Once'. Despite thoroughly enjoying the read way back when I read it, I never realised how long this opening sentence was.

James Herbert is a successful author of horror and well established in his field. The fact that opening sentences like these get published every day proves that I'm speaking of personal preference here. If you've started your novel with a gripping sentence that is as long as your arm, great - if it works. But I still prefer the shorter stuff...