I wrote two articles about character creation that I think (and hope) might be of help to people out there struggling with the topics the articles cover. Both articles have been published at Writinghood.com, so I'll merely link them here. (Expect a regular full post soon.)
1. Crafting Great Heroes and Villains
Creating epic heroes and villains is a difficult task. Many writers struggle with it, particularly in the fantasy genre, because they have a lot to live up to (think Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader). This article sheds light on how to achieve the epic heroes and villains you desire.
2. The Dos and Dont's of Naming a Character
Naming a character is one of the most difficult aspects of character creation. Their name is, more often than not, the first thing that represents them to the world. Even people who've never read the Harry Potter books know who Harry Potter is. A name is oh-so important; what's even more important is not to make any naming mistakes you'll kick yourself for later.
Personally, naming characters is the one thing I can say, with all confidence, I excel at. That's not to toot my own horn. It's just that every writer must know their own strengths in order to succeed. I hope my experience will benefit some people out there. (Just as I hope the experiences of many of you other writers will benefit me.)
Again, look forward to a regular post to be posted sometime later today.
Where is Transylvania is as Important as This
2 months ago
3 comments:
Hi, I'm trying to think up a name for a male character of mine right now. He is married to Penelope. Penelope is called Penny by most though their is one friend of her husband that calls her Lope and she hates it. He is a very obnoxious character. Her husband is the typical male chovinous pig. He only cares about himself and it a wonder that Penelope even stays with him. He comes from a well to do family and needs a name that sounds formal but can be shortened to a nickname. Right now I am considering Richard and his nickname as Dick. Any thoughts?
I love cemeteries, but if you are naming characters for historical fiction they can be a wonderful resource. Geek that I am, I named a couple of my German characters of the WWII era by haunting the Lutheran sections of cemeteries and doing basic statistical analysis on names of people born in Germany in the right time-frame. Perhaps I should post that as a comment in your procrastination page as well?
Brian, I think Richard (Dick for short) would suit that character nicely. If you're stuck for names, I highly recommend Behind the Name. It's an etymology website and has names from practically every era, culture, and language. You could look under the "traditional English" section and see if you find anything that works better for you. They also have a surname site of the same setup, and you can find a link to it on the main page.
(By the way, I like the premise of your story. Sounds like a good, character-driven piece, which is something that I think most people prefer to read.)
Al, that would be a great post on the procrastination page as well.
That's a very interesting take, searching cemeteries. But, after all, cemeteries ARE historical records of a fashion and they plainly state the names that were popular in certain eras -- very clever!
When I want to find German names, I simply think of the names that are in a tiny village just north of here, St. Florian. They're all Germans out that way; it's like stepping into an entirely different country -- especially during Oktoberfest! hehe It's a very lovely place to visit in autumn.
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