Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Writing conference time is quickly approaching. That means it’s time to get out your baby and make it as pretty as possible before sitting down with an acquisitions editor or submitting it for a contest or critique.
And this sounds like a great time for me to get out and dust off an oldie but goodie from 2008: What’s in a Name? After all, something as simple as a character name can make a difference in your all-important first impression.
Remember when you studied the balcony scene from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet? Remember when Juliet said:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Well, I hate to be the one to bring it up, but Juliet was dead wrong.
If we want to be quality fiction writers, we must take the time to determine the best names for our characters. Here are five points to consider in order to make our characters’ names as sweet as a rose:
- Don’t use names that start with same letter, especially with characters of the same gender. Readers, especially those who read fast, will often confuse such names. Remember the number one goal of writing: Don’t do anything to cause your readers to stumble or disconnect from the story. If they have to stop, go back, and figure out who a character is, you’ve tripped them up and created a pause in the flow of the story. Not good.
- Don’t use similar-sounding names. This is similar to #1, but it goes beyond the first letter of the word. I made both of these mistakes in the second Bitsy book, Bitsy and the Mystery at Amelia Island. By naming a character Bernie, I not only repeated the letter B, but even the sound of the names is very similar: Bit-sy and Ber-nie. Both have the ē (long e) sound at the end of the name. And to top it off, Bernie is a girl, but it sounds like a boy’s name, taking the confusion even further. Of course, at the time I thought I had a very good reason for naming a girl Bernie. After all, her name was Bernadette and she was the twin of Ernest, AKA Ernie. See? Ernie…Bernie. Sounds cute, doesn’t it? Well, it may be cute, but it’s also confusing to the reader, especially when you add Bitsy to the mix. And a good writer never wants to confuse her readers. I goofed.
- Make sure the name fits the character. Unless a name mismatch is part of the story, as in “A Boy Named Sue,” you’ll want the name to create an accurate image of your character. Did you know that Margaret Mitchell originally named her Gone with the Wind protagonist Pansy O’Hara? Her publisher wisely stepped in and requested a change. Mitchell more than made up for her mistake when she renamed her protagonist Scarlett O’Hara. Perfect!
- Be sure the name would have been used at the time of character’s birth. Even though I’m sure they didn’t do it just for us, the Social Security Administration created a wonderful tool for us writers when they created the site, Popular Baby Names. Here, you can find the most popular names for babies born in any year. Was your character born in 1901? If so, you probably shouldn’t name her Jennifer. But the name would be perfect if she was born in 1972.
- Try to make names easily readable. I’ve read entire books where I was never sure of the correct pronunciation of several character names. So what did I do? I just skipped over them. Now that might not be the end of the world, but readers do have a harder time connecting with characters when they have no idea how to pronounce their names. And remember, helping the reader connect with your character is a number one priority!
If you recall, Juliet’s balcony request ends with:
“Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.”
Want to be a great fiction writer? Want your readers to cry, “You’ve got all of me”? Then you must be willing to do the hard thing and doff a name or two if the story requires it. After all, the doffing could allow your characters to “retain that dear perfection…without that title” and you to win the hearts of your readers in the process.
And that, dear writers, is as sweet as it gets.
I pray God’s blessing on the work of your hands and your hearts,
Vonda
(Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
