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Young Writers Society


characters names...so much fun but so much pain.



which name do you like better?

London
2
22%
Lexington
2
22%
Brooke
3
33%
Blakely
2
22%
 
Total votes : 9


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Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:11 pm
thegoodlifewriter says...



Okay so I have my book written and in the process of editing. I am also thinking about some of the names but the question that keeps coming up is to change or not to change?

I have three main characters: April, Bridget and Brooke.
Some people say Bridget and Brooke are too similar so I've been thinking of changing Brooke's name to Blakely.

I also have a set of minor characters with similar names: Paris and London.
So again I am thinking about changing to latter name, this time to Lexington.

Have any of you had to change a character name or just did? Let me know!
  





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Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:31 pm
Rosendorn says...



I attempted to change a character name once. The result was the character not talking to me.

My logic on naming is this: very few parents actually think to themselves "Oh, this child is very likely to meet people whose names sound similar to x. I shouldn't name my child x because it'll cause confusion later on." (Disclaimer: Some parents actually do go out and research naming trends along with pop culture to make sure their child's name is Extra Special while they're growing up. I can say this with certainty because my dad is one such person. And I still had three people with names similar to me in elementary school). Instead, parents go "I like name x. I'll name my child that."

Let people have similar names. Yeah, readers might be confused, but that just means you need to have a certain personality attached to each name to make sure they're not interchangeable characters. One example is in Tamora Pierce. There was a character named "Raoul" and another named "Ralon". Their names look similar, but their personalities are polar opposites.

You don't have to go that extreme, but make it that readers can tell the characters apart. Have them able to tell the characters apart based on personality. This can be looks, speaking patterns, turns of phrase, reactions, anything and everything.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Sun Aug 12, 2012 9:01 am
pettybage says...



No offense, London, Lexington, and Brooke sound like porn actor names. Why not try the reverse of making up a name to fit a character, why not shop around a big list http://www.babynameguide.com/categoryam ... t=American and see which names have an aura that fits the characters as you imagine them?
  





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Sun Aug 12, 2012 4:33 pm
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Blues says...



I tried to change a character name. They were so stubborn.

And since I'd written about him for a year, he became *himself*. There was no changing him because in that novel, there was no stubborn character quite like him. Other characters could *be* stubborn but no one could be quite like him. It's like changing your three year old's name which everyone calls him by.

If you're worried, I suppose you could call have London and Brooke's names be nicknames rather than nicknames. It could be just a thing that they do in their friendship group by giving their friends nicknames. If that were the case however, think about *who* calls them what.

I have a character who goes by two different names. He'd "changed" one when he was young due to his original name meaning something highly embarrassing, but the only way he was actually able to was due to the fact that he'd moved, so he'd changed his name as a preventative measure in his new area.

If you take the option of being known with more than one name, think of these things:

- Who calls them what? What about those who spend the most time with them in the novel? Which name is used more often?
- What do they call themselves?
- In the narrative, which name is mostly used?

It's important to know those things in order to prevent any confusion for the readers when they start. Readers will probably know who's talking by the name they use later on, but for now...

I hope I helped and good luck! :)
  








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