Hello! Sorry I haven't updated in a while but high school can be time consuming 😬. Regardless, I decided that—although this book gives you names straight off of the page—I wanted to give you more "professional" advice to creating your own characters. After all, who doesn't like coming up with something amazing??
This chapter is completely unoriginal!! I own nothing! Please please please don't say that I copied, because I'm citing! 😂
Tip 1 - visualize your characters
"In your mind, picture your characters. What are their defining features, physical and otherwise? Write lists of their physical, intellectual, and emotional characteristics. What do they do for a living? What are their interests and passions? What are their stellar qualities and their darkest secrets?...."
Tip 2 - Era, age, locale, and culture
Each of these factors should be taken into account and are extremely important!
Tip 3 - Ethnic names and name meanings
"These days, with people of many different ethnicities reading English, cultural diversity in your fictional characters is important if you want your story to appeal to the widest possible spectrum of readers...."
Tip 4 - Unpronounceable names
Try to avoid using them if your era, ethnicity, etc. permits it. After all, words are read as a whole, not by sounding out each letter. Therefore your reader should be able to glance at the name and know immediately what it is instead of sounding it out each time.
Tip 5 - Names with odd associations
"Unless perhaps your character was born to hippie parents in the 1960s or later to New-Age parents, names like Candi, Bambi, Apple, Flower, Bootsie, Chastity, Kitty, Ziggy, Huckleberry, Jojo, Thor, or Atlas might give the wrong impression to readers."
Tip 6 - Names with famous associations
"The last thing you may want is for your unique, original protagonist to remind readers of someone else...."
Tip 7 - Soft or hard? Pretty or ugly sounding?
"Is your character soft or hard edged, aggressive or timid, feminine or masculine? Without falling into stereotypes, you'll want to keep personality type in mind when choosing the appropriate-sounding name for your characters."
Tip 8 - Avoid duplicate names
"How many Davids do you know? I can count about twenty in my broad circle of acquaintances, past and present. It's important to remember that a novel is not real life; it's art and artifice. Just as you wouldn't write dialogue exactly as it would unfold in real life with lots of pauses and hmms and uhs..."
Tip 9 - Subtle impressions
"To one reader, the name Elizabeth might inspire an image of a green-eyed, titian-haired, voluptuous woman, while another might envision a petite brunette."
Tip 10 - More
• Variety
• Alliteration
• Differentiation
• Odd acronyms
• Liability
Please please please read this! It will help you sooo much more and this is also where I got the information from:
http://penultimateword.com/editing-blogs/a-10-point-checklist-for-naming-your-fictional-characters/
PLEASE LOOK AT IT!! 😂
YOU ARE READING
Names For Characters
RandomThis book is comprised of names, street names, cities, creatures, things like that. It's made for currently writing authors, but can be read for fun. Some of this will come from my imagination, and others will be made through generators online, whi...
