I am an author, so as far as I am concerned, the pen is mightier than the sword! I can give or take life with the stroke of a pen. Very few professions have that luxury outside of the literary and entertainment industry. One aspect I enjoy the most is naming the characters.
Author choose names that resonate with them. Sometimes the names of my characters pop up randomly or I let the characters traits lead me to their name. However, there are instances when an author can get away with using odd names. Otherwise, the character names should be easy to pronounce, unless it is a nonfiction book. On the other hand, sometimes fiction and nonfiction collide. This was the case in my novel, Thin Skin Soul Pinned a paranormal mystery. The story is a work of fiction, but it is loosely based on actual events. The character with a questionable name exists, so the peculiar name was used.
“The name of a man is a numbing blow from which he never recovers.”-Marshall McLuhan
Naming a character is an important aspect of telling a story. In the story/poem Jack and Jill, the story would be less memorable if the character names were Arthur and Ruby. The name you give your character is as important as naming your child. After all, the name will stay with the character for the duration of their lives. Unlike real people, characters do not have the luxury of changing their name. The last thing a reader wants to do is mull over the pronunciation of a name.
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What are your thoughts on this subject?
Unless the name I use in my story is a common one in today's world, I try to spell my character's names as they sound, so readers shouldn't have problems with them.
ReplyDeleteI've had to that also. The name I used, the spelling varied depending on the region. So I spelled it my way.
DeleteI agree, names are very important in books and should give some insight into characters. My personal peeve is names that sound fake, so the trick is finding a realistic names which also work on another level.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. Names that sound fake gets to me too :). Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the subject.
DeleteIt takes me forever to choose names. I have a harder time with girls names than guys. I just wrote a blog post about it too. It is just like your kids, once it is done you are stuck with it forever so you better love it.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I can relate. It's a tricky process and once you've found the right name for the character you know it. I'll be dropping by your blog to read about it. Thanks for dropping by.
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