Young Writers Society

What would you feel if you read a book, and the characters' names were all drugs, like;

Meth (Methamphetamine)
Marijun (Marijuana)
Nico (Nicotine)
Mescal (Mescaline)

etc...

The book has a good reason for using drug names, but what would you feel if those names were the characters' names? Revolted? Nothing? Kind of drawn back?

Well, I mean... my username was not based off of meth; in fact, it was based off of a wizard character I played in Dungeons and Dragons, named Methrirr. It's a twist on the name Mithrandir. But I would probably not notice until it was pointed out to me.

Like Methrirr123, I don't think I would notice- but I think there are plenty of people who would. Personally I think some of the names sound kind of interesting, until, of course, I realize it's drugs.

I think you'd have a lot of people who would think it was cool, or interesting, but you'd also have a lot of people who'd be like: "Ah, okay... why?!"

I think the question is not: is it okay to name my characters after drugs? But rather: Are themed names very realistic?
The problem for me - correct me if I'm wrong - but it sounds like you're going to have a bunch of characters in one story named with a theme in mind. I personally don't think that themes are very good, because in real life, do you see many people who have themed names? Sure, there might be an 'interesting' family where all the seven kids are named after rivers or have 'C' names... but generally, in our world, that's kind of a ridiculous thing to do.

That's not saying that it's not temping, and that other writers haven't done it remotely successful in the past, but it's something you should put a bit of thought into, before you decide. Basically, if you want to have themed names for your characters, you'd better have a good reason for it, otherwise it just seems kind of like a comedy- which is fine, if you're writing a comedy.

As for drug names, I wouldn't have a problem if one of your characters is named Meth... I might look at the page a bit funny for a minute, but I'd get over it.

Oh I'm sorry! I really didn't see the part where you said you had a good reason for the drug names! Dx

I'd consider it lazy and lacking. If these characters' only name characteristics come from stereotypical drugs, then I don't expect their characters themselves to show too much depth.

I've read a couple of novels which uses the approach of minimal character names, like for example Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road', yet I've never really appreciated the style.

You're going to get a better and better feel for your characters as you write them, so I'd say you'll get a better clue in to what to name them as the story unfolds. You say you've got the story going on though, and you propose this name idea. So, I guess I would want there to be a really good and rational reason for these names to be in effect.

Can you tell us more about your plot?

PLEASE NOTICE THAT IT'S STILL IN DEVELOPMENT

Well, it's a short story, as in maybe ten or fifteen pages. I should probably tell you this : My stories don't really have a beginning, climax, and then an ending. It's more like... A story about this group of people? A slice of life? I hope you understand... I never do a good job at explaining my stories

There are six characters, they are all mentally ill, but the illness is never identified in the story. As in,

Example : Mescal was always looking at the picture of a limp, pale woman, too white and blue to be considered alive, and smiling with his eyes half shut. -Necrophilia

NOT : Mescal had necrophilia. He was always looking at pictures of pale ...

I wanted to make the story more dark, and make people realize that they are mentally ill, in case somebody doesn't...
And plus, it's never been done before, so why not try?

I am going to add some characteristics of the drugs' effect to the characters, too.

The main reason, I guess, is that it just doesn't... Match the story's 'feel' that I want if I used just normal names. It was to separate those characters from the world if you get what I mean.

Did I make sense...? *hides from glares*

So, are these people using these names to refer to each other (like nicknames), or are they given names? Because I can see them working as an in-joke among this group of people, assuming they all know they're mentally ill on a whole, but I can't really see it working otherwise.

I'm quite confused about your motive for writing the story though. Are you trying to get the readers to realize they are mentally ill, or are you trying to get the readers to realize the characters are mentally ill? If it's the former, I strongly advise putting this story aside for a later time until after you've gotten a few years of solid writing experience under your belt because those kinds of stories can have horrible, horrible consequences.

If it's the latter reason, I really hope you've done your research into the mental illnesses you intend to portray because mental illnesses are seriously misrepresented and misunderstood in media in general. Don't fall back on stereotypes or diagnostics manuals; read plenty of first-person accounts of people with the illnesses and take note of how they feel about it and how they cope from day-to-day. Just because someone has a mental illness doesn't mean that it's their sole fixation in life, but that's something that the (albeit very brief) excerpt of Mescal's necrophilia gives the impression of.

First and foremost, your characters should be human before they are a mental illness. Otherwise, it's an incredibly dehumanizing set of portrayals of people with mental illness, and people with mental illnesses are dehumanized enough as it is.

Do your research so you don't contribute to these dehumanizing portrayals.

Thank you so much for your tip!! I really should do as you said... Thank you so much