The Art of Character Crafting - #4: "Names."

Well, I am back from Spring break, and back into the depths of despair (school). Anywhozies.

Today, I will be addressing a very complex and nail-bitin’ topic. Names. Every author hits this wall at least once in their attempts. What should I name my characters? I really want the name to be significant with the personality of the character! AHHHH!

Hear ye, hear ye! I am here to help you!!

 

The first thing that I do, whilst looking to name a character is write down a list of names that I like.

The second thing that I do, whilst looking to name a character is take my list of liked names to babynames.com

The third thing that I do, whilst looking to name a character is type the names one by one in the search box of babynames.com

The fourth thing that I do, whilst looking to name a character is look at the origin of the name, the meaning, and the gender the name was intended for.

The fifth thing that I do, whilst looking to name a character is well... choose the name.

If you don't like the meanings/originality of the name, the website has a vast array of unique names. You can search by origin, if your character has a specific nationality. Usually, I randomly click on something and BAM. I have a new character.

I realize that this post is extremely short and some of you may be rolling your eyes in boredom. But there are people (hem, like me) who have the toughest time choosing the name for their characters. And then when you get into the OCD people (hem, like me), they usually want the name to be significant with a bunch of stuff about the character, and yaddayaddayadda.

The bottom line is: Names are important. They are very important. Without them, you would be calling your characters Thing One and Thing Two and Thing Three and etc. No offense to Dr. Suess, though. He is brilliant.

Keep writing!

<3
-Patricia Rane