have you ever forgotten your characters' names? i don't mean the H & H. i mean subcharacters (but i suppose it could happen to the stars too). well, it happened to me this weekend. so, i think i'm not only going to have to keep a legend of my chapters, but a list of character names.
no, i'm not writing a story about a carnival or anything. but, i am heavier on subplot; thus, more subcharacters to keep track of. i wish they could wear name tags. hmm, maybe i could make paper dolls of them? OMG - then i could totally act out the scenes. wait a minute - BEST IDEA EVER! i totally have all my barbies from when i was little. oh yes, i am about to start playing romance. i think i should copyright that idea because it's so awesome.
i am not even joking.
so, names. have you ever changed a character name like halfway through your story? that also happened to me this weekend. there's this one subchick who makes an early appearance, and a man who makes a later appearance, and their names are too similar ... so i decided to change the chick's name. yet, now i find myself still liking the chick's writer-given name and don't like her new substitute name, so, is it bad to have two similar names in a story? i mean they both start with the same letter and end in the same consonant. i had advice from a PAN one time that said not to even begin two different names in the same story with the same letter. i don't know that i agree with that, but i try to be more conscious of it when naming my characters.
i mean, like if i had ethan and nathan, that would be confusing. and if i had casey and cassie, that would be lyrical, but still confusing. and if i had morgan and logan - see, the ending part is too similar.
to prove how sometimes we just need to talk these things through with each other, i think i just came up with another solution. i'm going to give the chick a nickname made out of her original, writer-given name.
no, i'm not writing a story about a carnival or anything. but, i am heavier on subplot; thus, more subcharacters to keep track of. i wish they could wear name tags. hmm, maybe i could make paper dolls of them? OMG - then i could totally act out the scenes. wait a minute - BEST IDEA EVER! i totally have all my barbies from when i was little. oh yes, i am about to start playing romance. i think i should copyright that idea because it's so awesome.
i am not even joking.
so, names. have you ever changed a character name like halfway through your story? that also happened to me this weekend. there's this one subchick who makes an early appearance, and a man who makes a later appearance, and their names are too similar ... so i decided to change the chick's name. yet, now i find myself still liking the chick's writer-given name and don't like her new substitute name, so, is it bad to have two similar names in a story? i mean they both start with the same letter and end in the same consonant. i had advice from a PAN one time that said not to even begin two different names in the same story with the same letter. i don't know that i agree with that, but i try to be more conscious of it when naming my characters.
i mean, like if i had ethan and nathan, that would be confusing. and if i had casey and cassie, that would be lyrical, but still confusing. and if i had morgan and logan - see, the ending part is too similar.
to prove how sometimes we just need to talk these things through with each other, i think i just came up with another solution. i'm going to give the chick a nickname made out of her original, writer-given name.
whew.
so, since i figured it out, i'd like to know if anyone else OCDs over little details like this. come on, put on your name tag and step forward. there will be no spanking this time. unless you request that offline.
so, since i figured it out, i'd like to know if anyone else OCDs over little details like this. come on, put on your name tag and step forward. there will be no spanking this time. unless you request that offline.
3 comments:
Hi, my name is...who? My name is...what? stika stika slim shady.
Sorry...it's the A.D.D thing caused by a severe reaction to your O.C.D. thing...
Lucas and Marcus - twins - story is about Lucas but Marcus makes several 'surprise' appearances throughout. Turns out I inadvertently wrote an erotic novel. God, I am so talented...
NOT!!!!
I have read a few books where the characters had names starting with the same letter and it did get a bit confusing. It was something like Jason and Jordan. Or Butthead and Beavis. Can't remember now. And I have changed characters names part way through before, but then I kept getting confused on which name was the new name. That was messy. Hmmmm....might need to cut back on the martinis. :) Just kidding.
I usually do pretty well with names, unless I change them in the middle.
My big problem is mixing up physical characteristics like eye and hair color.
I have a program that will keep track of these things, but I'm just too lazy to use it.
Maybe I should just have everyone look the same.
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