Names Are Important by James R. Callan

Names Are Important by James R. Callan

Is selecting a name for your characters important? Have you ever just picked up the telephone directory, opened it at random and grabbed a name? Please do not use the name as simply a way to distinguish one character from another.

Suppose Margaret Mitchell had named her protagonist Jane. Would she have started the reader with a different impression than she did when she selected Scarlett? Before we even meet Scarlett we have a feeling about her. Scarlett reminds us of heat, emotion, energy, fire. We expect a fiery, energetic, volatile woman.

Do we start out with a different impression if the man guy is named Winston or Joe?

J.K. Rowling is one of the most successful writers of our time. Do you think she spent time on her characters’ names – and not just the major characters? And did they give the reader an initial impression? Draco Malfoy? Nymphadora Tonks? Ron Weasley? Severus Snape? Those

names did not just trip off her tongue; she worked to come up with them. Why, with all those great names, did she name the protagonist a rather plain name – Harry Potter? Perhaps she wanted to give us the impression that he was an ordinary person, a reluctant hero.

The name is part of the character. Why do people change their name in real life? Because they want a different persona, a different outward expression that better reflects how they feel about themselves, how they want to be viewed. So you, the writer who is creating this character, need to decide how the character views herself. Make a conscious effort to select a name that helps build and define your character.

In Deadly Additive, Donn Taylor named a secondary character who always operated on the edge, Brinkman. An accident? I don’t think so. Ian Fleming gave us some insight into the character of his antagonist in The Richest Man in the World when he named him Auric Goldfinger.

Can the name mislead us? Certainly, if you want it to. Just don’t let it happen by mistake. Tiffany can be a person who spends her life helping the homeless, living and eating with them, and then returning to her one room under the Elevated. Maybe her parents are rich and she was to be a debutant. But the girl wanted to do something more important.

You can use the name to help make the case for who this person is, or who the parents imagined she might be. Holly Golightly was a happy, carefree woman. Sam Spade was a straight forward, no frills, hard working person who dug for clues.

Suppose your heroine is named Catherine. If she calls herself Cat, that tells us how she sees herself, and how the reader should view her.

Names should be appropriate to the area, time, and genre of your novel. They should be age appropriate and should reflect the actual persona

of your character. Personally, I suggest avoiding names that are too difficult to pronounce. The reader pronounces the name in her head; don’t slow her down or tire her out.

This attention to names should also apply to the names of fictitious places. Sometimes, the name can be a contrast to the character or place. David Balcacci in his book Divine Justice names a town “Divine” to contrast with the true nature of the place.

You work hard to give your book a name that will entice the reader to pick it up and read it. Select your character name to make that character and your book memorable.

And remember the advice from Proverbs: “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches…”

After a successful career in mathematics and computer science, receiving grants from the National Science Foundation and NASA, and being listed in Who’s Who in Computer Science and Two Thousand Notable Americans, James R. Callan turned to his first love—writing. He has had four non-fiction books published. He now concentrates on his favorite genre, mystery/suspense/thriller. His twelfth book released in May, 2018. In addition, he speaks at conferences and gives workshops on various writing topics such as character development, dialog, audiobooks, plotting, and the mystery/suspense/thriller genre. Website: www.jamesrcallan.com Blog: https://www.jamesrcallan.com/blog/ Author Page: http://amzn.to/1eeykvG