Writing Tips: Names

Well, it's December 2nd and I can officially say that I have little to no idea where the time in 2011 has gone. How terribly disconcerting...

But, thankfully, we're not here to discuss the year in review (At least, not yet. Maybe on New Years Eve? Although, I rather doubt I'll be around to post.). No, this evening, we're going to discuss writing - because it's been far too long since I've talked about that and this is a writing blog.

(Note: I'm probably going to sound a bit strange in this post, but hopefully you'll be able to see what I'm getting at without too much extra effort.) 


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Names are important to stories.

Have you ever sat down to begin working on a novel or story idea... only to not get anywhere because your characters don't have names, yet?

I suppose it's possible that not all authors spend a great deal of time fretting over the names of their characters. Maybe some people begin to write and names just fall out of their head without any effort at all. If that's the way naming works for you, congratulations, you're lucky. But this post isn't really about how easy or difficult it is to find a prefect name for your characters, this post is about the importance of the names you give them.

Choosing a name, is like choosing the perfect word in a haiku poem. Anyone can crank out seventeen syllables and put them in the proper form within a matter of minutes, but the syllables don't matter quite as much as what you're saying.

Remember, in a haiku you only have seventeen syllables to make your point. A mere seventeen syllables to write a poem worth reading, a poem that will stick with the reader long after they first read it. That's not much to work with, if you really think about it.

But you're writing a short story, a novel, or something along those lines. You, of course, may make use of many more words. Sometimes, you can even use hundreds of thousands of words. What could one word possibly matter in all of that?

(Well, you'd better hope a lot, because your novel is only a few hundred thousand words at most in a pile of billions of words sitting on somebody's desk. But that's not really what we're talking about, is it?)

Actually, we are talking about that, in a way.

You see, one word in your novel probably doesn't make that much of a dent. Most people aren't going to pick through your novel with a fine-toothed comb, crossing out words and writing in other words they think might fit better. Most people are just going to read your novel.

But, there is one word that they will notice, without a doubt (probably several, if your novel has more than one character with a name). And that word, will be a name.

Have you ever met someone and, right from the moment he or she introduced him/herself, thought that their name really didn't suit them?

Perhaps, you gave them a nickname that seemed more fitting. Or, maybe they already had a nickname. Whatever the case, it suddenly became easier for you (and possibly others) to connect with that person.

Well, just like people in real life, your characters develop a personality as you write them. Their personality becomes fine-tuned as you rewrite or revise your story or novel. And - with any luck - by the time your book or story is published, your characters are exactly what you wanted to see (hopefully the rest of your book or story is, too).

Maybe your published work picks up readers and they love your piece, too. Maybe everybody thinks the plot is great and your characters are wonderful. And, perhaps, they're on board with your voice.

That sounds like a great start. It's a great start I've seen before. But you know what can really derail me when I'm reading a novel?

A name that doesn't fit a character.

Your novel may be the best written work ever to grace the face of this planet. But if that sweet, innocent, generous character with a great smile and wild hair has a name that sounds completely out of place, I don't buy it.

I spend a ridiculous amount of time searching for the perfect name when I'm building up a character. And, if everything goes my way, I usually find it. But there are several characters I have whose perfect names I have never found and, in the same way I won't buy a book if I can't bridge the gap between a character and his or her name, I cut those characters out of my story or novel or I type NAME throughout the entire work until I figure it out.

No matter which way I choose to go about handling the situation, though, one thing is for sure:

I cannot publish a piece if I cannot find a proper fitting name for the character sitting in the corner.

Choosing a name for a character is as important as choosing the right word in a poem. A name makes people able to relate to your character. It helps people understand them.

If a name doesn't fit, it's going to trip your readers up and disrupt the flow. And coming from someone who has been tripped up in the middle of a novel before, trust me when I say you don't want that to occur.