I usually have a good time naming characters, but I’ll admit that sometimes I have to go back and change names later. Or add them.
My editor for the quilting mysteries called me a couple of weeks ago. “Does your victim have a last name?” she asked.
I blinked. Did she? I told my editor I’d email her, then went through the manuscript, searching for it. Nope, she sure didn’t. The victim didn’t really need one at the time, but my editor needed a last name for the back cover copy. Oddly enough, I did have a last name in my brainstorming notes but it hadn’t come into play in the book…I guess I just used it to set the character in my brain when I was drafting.
This kind of last-minute change or addition of names has happened to me before.
One book I submitted needed a character name change in the 11th hour—the name was already taken by a real person…an actual author at another publishing house. We didn’t want to step on any toes or make it look like I had a vendetta against that poor author (I didn’t even know them, but it would have looked bad.)
Here are some things I’ve learned about naming:
Not everyone should be named. Bit characters can usually just remain unnamed and just tagged.
We should avoid naming characters names that start with the same letter. I’m editing a book I wrote a long time ago and I’m amazed that I have 3 characters whose names start with B. Really? I’m changing them.
Sometimes character names alone aren’t enough to place a character with a reader. A short reminder of who the character is when they come back onstage might be a good idea (especially if they have a smaller role). It’s helpful to have a ‘Jenny hopped in the car, still wearing her scrubs from work.’ Really, you don’t even have to be that vague with the reminders: sometimes a ‘Jenny, Cameron’s sister, got in the car’ is fine to slip in. I think this is becoming even more important with ereaders, since it’s a bit more of a pain to type in a name to search for it, instead of just flipping (or it is to me, anyway.)
Using nicknames as well as regular names can be tricky unless we make it clear or we’re fairly consistent with the nicknames (one character uses it all the time to refer to another character, etc.)
I try to find appropriate names for my characters. Right or wrong, there’s definitely baggage that comes along with certain names. If I were going to write a beauty queen, I probably wouldn’t choose the name ‘Gertrude’ unless I was trying to be funny. Trudy, though, might work out well. I wouldn’t name my intellectual Biff…again, unless I was trying to make a point. It would be too much work to try to undo the readers’ quick leap to stereotype.
Every book I seem to change a character name at least once. After eight chapters, they may not be the same person I thought they were in chapter two. By chapter eighteen, they might have changed again.
Do you enjoy naming characters? Do you always stick with a character name or have you changed them in the past?
I’m currently reading Detection Unlimited by Georgette Heyer, and at the start, I had a big problem with names. She introduced a huge number of people right off the bad, and while I did get a grasp of the different characters — the names were impossible to sort out. They were all, well, British manor house mystery names. In many cases the first and last names both sounded like last names, and the characters called each other by either, and it was confusing.
I finally got a pad of paper, went back, and started writing down as many names as I could find. By the time I got through the first few chapters, I finally knew who was who. It’s a good book, but the names issue makes it nearly impossible.
As for my own writing — the nickname, first name, last name thing often gets me, because I do have characters who are called different things by different people. Sometimes I’ll just write it, and go back and adjust to something more consistent later.
I change names a lot. I once had a character named Joe who was sent to an institution because he could see things that others couldn’t. By the end of the book both the institution and the sightings were gone, which meant he wasn’t my ordinary Joe any more so he had to become something else.
It’s so true what you say about the names changing by chapter ten. Sometimes it just takes a while to figure out that “Jane” needs a stronger name. I thought it was cute once when I named my protagonist and her love interest the same name. Not so cute when others read it! Hey, I knew a Brook and a Brooke who were dating, so it happens!
I’ve had to change names for the reasons everyone cites. The character I’m working with now is Bubbles Schermerhorn, which I’m sure will change, but makes me smile.
I think I use ‘find and replace’ more for this than for anything else. I had terrible trouble with the hero and heroine of a romantic suspense novel I’ve just written as a summer treat – they started out as Freddy and Francesca, which (thank goodness!) I decided were both silly names, and also the heroine had turned into someone a lot less formal than the name Francesca seems to me, so they have ended up as Josh and Isabelle (Issie). In the same novel I had a character who started out Syrian and later became Serbian!
When my son and I wrote pantomime scripts together for a youth drama group, we often got names from the IKEA catalogue, as IKEA tend to name their products as if they were in fairy-tales – Askedal was our favourite place name!
Elizabeth – I’ve made last-minute changes to names, too. In fact once I did that – and forgot to change that character’s name throughout the book until someone else caught it. Good thing there’s search-and-replace! I agree with you, too, about names that are too similar; that does make it hard for the reader, doesn’t it?
I love naming my characters. I can hardly do anything until they’re named. I love naming anything – isn’t that what we writers do? My new (old) car doesn’t have a name yet and it makes me most anxious. I have had problems with naming fairly important characters in two novels with the same name. I always want someone named Maggie and I usually want a Jack. Why? No idea. None.
I love coming up with character names! I once joked to my husband that it’s a good thing I’m a writer, or we’d have ten kids just so I could use all the fun names I think of. He, poor man, has gotten quite used to being in the middle of something else entirely (usually driving) when I fire off, “What do you think of this name?” The first few times it gave him a heart attack, thinking it was an oblique way of telling him I was pregnant. Now he realizes it’s just me, plotting out characters again.
I have found that lately I’ve been drawn to variations on the name Katherine – in three separate stories, I have at least one or more important character named Kate, Cadi, Caitlyn, or some variation thereof. I’ve been forcing myself to change them up, but it’s not easy!
This is actually one of the hardest things I have to do in a story. Here’s what I do: (a) ask my husband (b) use a name finder or (c) leave it blank until the next edit.
I thinking names are important of course, but I also find that I hardly ever have a last name for any characters outside of my main one. I don’t know, but I find last names much much harder to come up with than first names.
Where do you come up with last names is my question, those are much more difficult?
I change character names a lot. How do people name their kids, a name he or she is stuck with until at least age 18, when I can barely decide 100% on a character name, LoL!
I’ve been going through the whole naming thing recently for a couple stories, but most of the time, names just pop into mind with a character concept.
Some characters come into my mind already named and refuse to be changed. I’m working on a story with a female protagonist named Andy Cooper. Problem – I have a grandson named Cooper. He’s not going to like my giving his name to a girl and the rest of the grandkids are going to feel slighted that I didn’t name anyone after them (not that I was thinking of my Cooper when this character arrived). I keep trying to change the name but she refuses to be called anything else. Characters can be so bothersome that way, don’t you think?
The observation about e-readers is so on spot. I hate having to “flip back.”
One of my characters has renamed himself three times. I had to take a break I got so confused :-[
M Beth Vaughn
I’m having fun naming my characters. I’m still so early in the process, haven’t had to change names yet, but we’ll see.
BTW, I now have the video working on my blog thru youtube, if you want to see Sugartime. Thanks, Elizabeth.
Karen
I’m having fun naming my characters. I’m still so early in the process, haven’t had to change names yet, but we’ll see.
BTW, I now have the video working on my blog thru youtube, if you want to see Sugartime. Thanks, Elizabeth.
Karen
When I write darker fiction, my main concern is that their names must be from the right period so you don´t call people from the 50s something that wasn´t used until the 70s.
But for my cosy mysteries, I absolutely love selecting funny names. I have a plot lying about where most characters are named after Yorkshire villages. They have marvellous place names there, e.g. Askwith, Featherstone, Micklebring and Thwing. So whenever I have to change a name in that one, there are plenty to choose among, one better than the other.
I have to change names, too–I’m bad about going through favorite letter phases. My latest book is H’s… no clue why… And I have forgotten last names and had to search, too. I wish I was more organized, but apparently not strongly enough to GET more organized…
I hear ya on naming characters! It’s such a pain!! I always end up with standard all-American girl names…I would love to be more creative in that venue. And don’t even get me started on last names.
What I try to remember is that each name has a story around it! Good or bad…think of why that character’s parents named her/him that (like my mom named me “Nicole Michelle” because she wanted a really pretty first name to contrast against a not-so-pretty last name). My mom named my brothers names because she wanted strong sounding names for them!
So, even if my character’s parents aren’t a strong feature in the story, I try to think of what they might’ve named them and the kind of impact that story might have on my character…
I’ve not had to change any names yet. The two main characters in my first book both began with B, but my publisher thought they were different enough it would be all right. I really watched that with the second book though.
I hate naming characters – I love it when I start a historical and they all already have names! (Except, of course, when they all have the same name…)
This post really resonated with a lot of us! I just blogged about the ups and downs of my characters’ names, including one originally named Cletus (historical fiction- it made sense at the time!). My teacher friends said that would never fly as a 4th grade read-aloud.
Ah, the woes of naming fictional beings is often tougher than naming real ones.
I needed names for two security guards. My neighbor was playing Jimi Hendrix from his garage, so I named the two characters Hendrix and James. I didn’t need first names as they were both about to die anyway.
I think character naming is one of the toughest parts. I also think it should be given a lot of consideration. I read part of an e-book on my daughter-in-law’s Kindle – three characters all with the C/K sound at the beginning, all one syllable. I was confused just half-way into the first chapter. Changing the name on a character – why not? Once you get to know your characters better, you realize the name you gave them no longer fits! Great post!
I just went through the same thing. I started writing and then changed the name of the character. It didn’t feel right so I changed it back! What a nightmare.
A last name is really good advice as is googling to make sure it isn’t someone’s name!
Great post!
Names are difficult. I changed (accidently) a bit character’s name half way through my draft and didn’t realize it – had to go back. Oh well! I caught it…
I’ve used a spreadsheet to make sure I don’t overuse letters. I actually have 3 characters with the same NAME, not the same LETTER in one of my early books. Needless to say, I wasn’t impressed with the editor once I discovered that. I’ve fixed it for the e-book release now that I have the rights back.
And that initial thing seems to be common — I’m judging a contest for unpublished authors, and I’m seeing a lot of same-initial names.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Mary Mary–I’ve even named characters 1, 2, 3 and just changed them later when I knew who they were a little better. :)
The Daring Novelist–That’s a pain. I need little reminders of who characters are, if there are a lot of them. And any book that has a map or a family tree in the beginning of it will probably lose me. I wish I had more time…but right now I just don’t.
Austan–It makes me smile, too. :)
Sarah–Ha! Too funny how the plot changes the character names.
Sheila–I like Josh and Issie!
Ooh…IKEA! Didn’t think about that. I’ll have to give it a go!
Margot–Search and replace is wonderful!
Jan–I think I’ve got name fatigue now. I’ve come up with about 75 with my 7 books. It’s tiring!
E Louise Bates–Ha! Way to scare a husband. :)
I get stuck on names sometimes, too. :)
Clarissa–I’ve done the same. Except, obviously, sometimes I never go back to fix the problem!
John–I’ve used the phone book, my high school yearbook (shh!):) and some old directories I’ve found lying around.
Laura–Names are tough!
Jaleh–Wish I could say the same!
LD Masterson–I’ve had some feedback from family and friends before. :) I tell them that everything I do is subconscious. And that’s pretty much the truth.
GigglesandGuns–It’s just sort of a pain to do a typed search on the Kindle, isn’t it? I guess I’ll get over it…I guess.
Hart–The last names are killers, aren’t they? I just don’t use last names that much in my books. Very first-name basis! Ha!
Nicole–I like your thoughts on the reasons behind naming particular names. I did the same for my kids. :)
Alex–I’m trying to be careful, too.
Juliette–That would be a nice thing! I’m never wild about coming up with names–I just have so many to come up with for each book…
Karen–Oh good! I’ll pop over. Sorry I’m late to respond…crazy day yesterday.
Dorte–I love how you handled names for your cozy!
Augusta–I think for YA and children’s lit authors, pronounciation is probably pretty key. Interesting point!
Stephen–Sounds like a good plan to me!
Karen–Once we get to know them, sometimes the name just doesn’t fit anymore…
Susie–I was very surprised to hear that my victim was another writer. :) Glad my editor caught it.
Lady Gwen–I have done *exactly* the same thing before. And I didn’t catch it somehow…fortunately the editor did. I’m thinking I won’t name those bit characters anymore.
I have to do this all the time. I start every work with each character assigned either a single letter or a generic name like “Bob” or “Fred” (nothing wrong with either of these names).
Sometimes I forget to change them. So “D” does this. Hm. In my current WIP I have 5 things (people and types) that start with E, at least three and hopefully four will have to change.