Clouds are moving out and a big heat wave is on the way. Alas, I’m going to be at the
So after I talked about some of the main points of my new book there was a question and answer session. One woman asked about secondary characters and we talked about how they provided a chance for color, verve, and taking risks. Somehow it was mentioned that it was good to feature a blurter in the story—or a character who says things, acts in ways that most people wouldn’t dare. And somewhere along the way I mentioned ‘son of a bitch’. There was a kid of about 8 in the audience and I apologized for my language. He said, “I don’t mind. My dad’s girlfriend talks like that all the time.” Amid laughter I pointed out how a blurter can enliven things….
He was asking about names for characters and wondered if Bob was a good name for a bad guy. To which I answered that a name like Bob likely wouldn’t worry readers—a bad guy’s name needs to suggest menace or strength. Characters are first of all, the sound of their names.
Naming people and things has a practical purpose because it appeals to the reader’s logic and memory. In fiction we name characters to differentiate them, to suggest their age, social standing and personality, to make them solid and distinctive, and signal readers that the story person is worth noting. Generally, the more complicated your character, the more distinct his or her name should be, (think Ebenezer Scrooge) keeping in mind that names, and like characters evoke a response in readers and ignites their imagination. All fiction writes need to collect names in a writer’s notebook starting with the standard methods of gathering names by perusing phone books, obituaries, and baby name books.
Take care with creating your character’s names, especially your villain’s name, and be especially careful not to choose a name that works against type. Generally you wouldn’t choose a name for a villain that suggests a softie, nor would you give a good guy a name that has dark connotation. The best names are suggestive, reflect the genre type such as Voldemort in the Harry Potter series, and reflect an era. In the opening books in the series, Voldemort’s name is so feared that few people speak it out loud, instead say, “he who can’t be named.” If your story has a true villain, his name should reflect menace, coldness, and/or strength. Use hard consonants and sounds to suggest menace or other characteristics. For example in Stephen King’s The Dark Hall, his villain’s name is Stark. Conversely, good guys will have names that suggest goodness, or perhaps strength, such as Tolkein’s characters and hobbits, Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin.
Interestingly, in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy saga, one royal family is also named Stark. The family is from a kingdom of the north, Winterfell and their emblem is a grey direwolf (an extra-large, extra-fierce species of wolf) on a snowy white background. The Starks are tough and cunning and hardened, with a lower hall filled with the bones of their ancestors. In the series they’re often referred to as wolves, the children in the family find direwolves and keep them as pets, and the name and mascot reflects their fierceness.
Writers are also wise to use names that are suggestive such as Romeo suggesting romance, Holly Golightly suggesting a light hearted nature, and Scarlett O’Hara a flamboyant beauty. In Dean Koontz’s Forever Odd the villainess is named Datura which reflects her kinkiness, coldness, and cruelty. However, Koontz cleverly has chosen a name with layers of meaning, something fiction writers are always striving for. Datura is a flowering plant that is also called Devil’s Trumpets and Angel’s Trumpet. There are many myths associated it with it in cultures worldwide such as the Zuni myth about twins who had powers to give people visionary dreams and help them find lost objects. Their enemies decided to put an end to their powers, and after they disappeared forever into the earth twin plants grew where they disappeared.
The Datura species, which has beautiful trumpet-like flowers exudes a narcotic-like scent, especially at night and is considered a sacred visionary plant. Datura plants have been used in many regions and by many cultures for medicinal and spiritual reasons, especially by shamans who use it for its clairvoyant powers. It is also interesting to note that all the Datura species contain potent alkaloids which when taken in sufficient quantity have the power to kill.
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