http://www.writers-online.co.uk^59MASTERCLASS
APRIL 2020wisdom. How will her name impact
what happens to her? What might
happen to a character called Victor,
meaning conqueror? Obviously some
name meanings are more apparent
on the surface than others, so it’s up
to you how subtle, or otherwise, you
want to be.
Do you find you’re often at a loss
for names or that you find yourself
using the same ones over and over
again? If you want to spread your
wings there are some great places to
look for a range of names. I quite
often use Twitter and just scroll
through my timeline until I find
something I like the sound of. You
can also flick through magazines,
newspapers and books for names, or
even the telephone directory!
One source that lots of writers use is
a baby name guide. There are loads of
different ones available and you should
be able to find one in a bookshop or
library easily enough. There are also
online baby name sites which allow
you to search by things like meaning
and popularity.
Some of the online sites will also
help you narrow names down by
geographical/language origin which
will be useful if you want to set
your story in a country other than
your own, or have characters from a
particular ethnic background. You can
also find sites which arrange names by
the years in which they were popular
which can be helpful if you are writing
historical fiction or if you are writing
about a character who was born some
time ago. Obviously names go in and
out of fashion, but it’s worth making
sure you don’t pick a name that’s going
to feel so out of place that it throws
your reader out of the story.
You may not feel the need to
give surnames to your short story
characters. But if you do, and the
meaning is important to you, there
are also plenty of both online and
book based resources which explain
surnames. If you are giving your
character a full name it’s worth
checking that name doesn’t also
belong to a high profile real person.
That way you can avoid calling your
romantic heroine after, for example, a
serial killer.
Sometimes it’s nice to give your
character an unusual name. I would
only advise doing that if you’re doingWHAT’S IN
A NAME?
been less meek from the start. As it is,
his imploring on behalf of his child
turns out to be almost certainly too
little too late.
The story acts as a reminder to
readers that it isn’t always good to
be accommodating to other people.
Being meek and mild might make you
liked in the short term, but sometimes
you have to be prepared to speak out
to avoid disaster.The name game
How much time do you spend coming
up with names for your characters?
How important is hitting on exactly
the right name? You may not want
to use names with meanings in quite
such a direct way as Dickens does, but
you can still make sure you are using
names effectively in your fiction.
One thing to consider is how all the
names in your story sound. In general
it’s a good idea to avoid having more
than one name starting with the same
letter. So try not to have John, Jenny
and Jason in the same story. Equally
names that rhyme are usually best
avoided. I once wrote a first draft
of a story in which my characters
were called Jill, Phil and Bill. Oh,
and if you’re setting your story in a
swimming pool, don’t call your main
character Paul. I only spotted that one
when I read the story aloud to myself.
How names sound can also impact
on how readers will envisage your
character. Try this exercise. Think
about names that are similar and
from the same root, but have slightly
different feels to them. Picture a
Julie, a Julia and a Juliet. What
subtle differences are there in what
you feel a character with those
names might be like. What about
Mary, Marie and Maria? How would
a Harry differ from a Henry? What
about people with the same name,
but different diminutives? How does
the picture conjured up by Pat differ
from that suggested by Trish? Or
Lizzy from Beth?
Maybe you want to take into
consideration the meaning of the
name you want to use. If you wanted
to call your character Bella, meaning
beautiful, what effect might that have
on your story? Would it influence
other people in how they react to
that character? Or perhaps you want
to call a character Sophie, meaningREAD THE STORY AT:
it for a good reason though, or it may
just be a distraction for the reader.
I wrote a story once with a female
character who was called Presley
because her parents were big Elvis
fans. I had another character reflect on
how special it made her seem because
that name was just hers.
Some stories have unnamed
characters, and this can work if you
are doing it for a reason. You might
want to deliberately make a character
enigmatic, or there might be a reason
why no one knows their name.
Generally speaking though, readers
will tend to relate better to a character
if they know their name. One type of
story where it can be hard to naturally
convey the main character’s name is
one told by a first-person narrator.
Most of us don’t refer to ourselves by
name. You can have another character
address them by name, but sometimes
it is tricky to do that in a way that
doesn’t seem staged. You may also
want to not disclose your character’s
name in some types of twist story,
especially gender twists, where the
name may give too much away. In
these circumstances you’ll need to
weigh up the pros and cons before
deciding on your approach.
Do bear in mind that if your stories
are published in magazines, the editor
may change your character names,
so don’t be too precious about them.
Why would they do that? Well, most
likely is that they have another story
in the magazine which uses the same
name and they want to avoid a clash.
I also once had an editor change my
characters’ names from traditionally
English names to Indian-sounding
names. I assume this was in order to
make the magazine more inclusive,
which is a good sign and hopefully
an encouragement for more diverse
stories to be submitted.
Why not experiment with names
in your writing? As we’ve seen, they
can really add an extra dimension to
your stories.