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Thread: What's in a Name?

  1. #1
    Why so serious? Tinker's avatar
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    Default What's in a Name?

    I have been writing a novel for a very long time. Or I should say conceptualizing it. I've mainly been writing it for the past year, but I've got notes on ideas for it going back more than a decade.

    So what has been holding my back recently is names. For some reason I have been unable to keep people straight in my head using names. The protagonist's name has been elusive though I started out with a very strong idea of his name which I think I will now return to.

    Has anyone ever had this problem? Where names don't seem to stick to characters even though you have a strong idea of their personality?
    "And I hope I don't get born again, 'cuz one time was enough!" -- Mark Sandman

  2. #2
    Oliphaunt
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    Huh. This is not a problem I've had with writing. I good at naming characters, and the names generally stick. My problems tend to come up when I change my mind on who should be the protagonist, and how that changes the plot and/or the point-of-view I was using.

    Have you tried just using initials? Or maybe using words that indicate the characters' place in the story?

  3. #3
    Living la vida broke-a Revs's avatar
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    I'm not much of a writer, but I'm a hell of a reader. The character's name doesn't have to mean a damn thing so long as the character itself is memorable enough on it's own. Develop an interesting character, then pick a cool sounding name out of the phone book.
    Give me whiskey when I'm thirsty,Give me a cold beer when I'm dry, Give me root beer when I'm sickly, Give me a headstone when I die.

  4. #4
    Why so serious? Tinker's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Revs View post
    I'm not much of a writer, but I'm a hell of a reader. The character's name doesn't have to mean a damn thing so long as the character itself is memorable enough on it's own. Develop an interesting character, then pick a cool sounding name out of the phone book.
    It's not that I have trouble with coming up with names. I used to rattle them off at will when I was a Dungeon Master in D&D games. But the problem is more of one of identity, tying the name to the identity of the character.
    "And I hope I don't get born again, 'cuz one time was enough!" -- Mark Sandman

  5. #5
    Free Exy Cluricaun's avatar
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    Write them as colors. "Red" and "Blue" and "Black" evoke much more of a feeling in the writer than they would on the reader. Once you're done with a color concept of your players and the actual writing, go back and change them to their actual story names.
    Hell, if I didn't do things just because they made me feel a bit ridiculous, I wouldn't have much of a social life. - Santo Rugger.

  6. #6
    Why so serious? Tinker's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Cluricaun View post
    Write them as colors. "Red" and "Blue" and "Black" evoke much more of a feeling in the writer than they would on the reader. Once you're done with a color concept of your players and the actual writing, go back and change them to their actual story names.
    Hmm, that's an interesting idea. One of my characters is blue, in that her skin is blue. So I have been referring to her as 'The Blue Lady'. But part of it is the need to give her more identity than that because she is part of the aristocracy, and names are very important for aristocrats, they serve the same sort of purpose that tattoos serve in more primitive cultures. They are signposts that tell where the person is from.
    "And I hope I don't get born again, 'cuz one time was enough!" -- Mark Sandman

  7. #7
    like Gandalf in a way Nrblex's avatar
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    I always, always, always come up with the name first. I get a bare bones idea of what part in the plot the character is going to play, slap a name on that fits that part, and then start building the character around it. Waiting too long and getting too concrete an idea of a character before the name comes along makes it complicated. You stick the name on first and then that name will be associated in your mind with the qualities you want.

  8. #8
    Why so serious? Tinker's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Nrblex View post
    I always, always, always come up with the name first. I get a bare bones idea of what part in the plot the character is going to play, slap a name on that fits that part, and then start building the character around it. Waiting too long and getting too concrete an idea of a character before the name comes along makes it complicated. You stick the name on first and then that name will be associated in your mind with the qualities you want.
    Thanks for the thoughts. Now that my protagonist has received a name it has fundamentally changed his persona and I have to reinvision much of what I had planned.
    "And I hope I don't get born again, 'cuz one time was enough!" -- Mark Sandman

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