Names

When first meeting someone, the first piece of information exchanged is a name. A person’s name allows you to categorize them in your contact list and identify them in your mind. In this digital age, we might first think of someone’s profile or user name before their actual name, but that often means we don’t know them as personally. The more personal the relationship, the more likely we are to use a personal name. Conversely, when we meet someone a single time and don’t interact with them frequently, our minds might defer to other descriptors, like “blue-shirt man” or “cool-laugh lady” instead of actually remembering their name.

As writers, we have the opportunity to control how the reader remembers each character. There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Naming is just one of the tools writers use to create scant or generous familiarity for the characters in the reader’s head. It’s one of my favorite parts of developing the characters, and always so much fun. Here are a few ways I plan character names. Hopefully these suggestions spark new ideas for your own writing.

LITERAL SIGNIFICANCE

Is the character’s name an actual word? Does their name have a literal meaning or etymology that connects somehow to their personality or heritage? Colors can be used interestingly. Violet, Raven, Rose, Amber, and Blanca are all names that could somehow be tastefully tied to the character’s appearance or personality. In one of my WIPs, there is a non-human character named Khrysos, which I adapted from krysopos, loosely meaning “gold-colored” in Greek. It works because the character’s skin has a gold sheen. It’s possible that not a single reader will make that connection, but I’m okay with that. Calling it out in an obvious way could seem forced, and I prefer the chance of a surprise discovery. The level to which you decide to make the connection obvious is up to you!

Examples of names that are traditional or unique spellings of actual English (or non-English) words that somehow relate to the character include Captain Hook, Skywalker (the combination of two English words back to back), and any or all of the Seven Dwarves. In fact, classic Disney stories do this exceptionally well. I was an adult before I realized that Ariel is just a different spelling of aerial, which is where she wanted to be all along. In Beauty and the Beast, which takes place in a French town, many of the characters’ names are derived from French, LeFou (the fool) and Lumiére (light) being just a few. In Stardust, the king’s children are named according to their order of birth—Una, Primus, Secundus, Tercious, Quartus, and so forth.

There are so many other wonderful examples of this, the best of which include a clever moment of discovery by the reader/audience.

CULTURE

Does their name reflect their culture somehow? For example, in Avatar: The Last Airbender, the characters’ names are unique to their nations. Aang once changes his name to Kuzon when blending into the fire nation, and Sokka gets identified as from the water tribe by his sword master by simply giving his name. Tolkien also does this well by differentiating the elves with more regal sounding names like Galadriel or Elrond, compared to the shorter, squatter, earthier sounding names of the hobbits like Bilbo or Frodo.

ONE-WORD NAMES

Can your character be identified by a single name? Beyonce. Rihanna. Maluma. Zendaya. Sauron.

MULTIPLE-WORD NAMES

Do we need more than one name, (both first and last, or more) to recognize the character? Many celebrities rely on this for recognition. For example, the names Britney, John, and Jennifer are fairly common. However, Britney Spears, John Legend, and Jennifer Lopez are much more recognize names. Other common first names that require a surname for recognition include Frank Sinatra, Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, and so many more. Speaking of Chris Pratt, there’s a hilarious skit in which Tom Holland asks him his favorite actor, and Pratt goes through all the actors with similar names (Tom Hanks, Tom Hardy, Tom Hiddleston, etc.) which is a perfect real-life example of relying on a second name for recognition. As an author, you can choose whether your character commonly identifies themself with a surname attached, or better yet, a unique way of introducing themselves using their name(s). “Bond. James Bond.”

NICKNAMES

Does your character have a catchy nickname that allows for easy recognition? In the Marvel universe, no one calls Bucky by his real name, James Buchanan Barnes. Everyone simply knows him as Bucky, and it fits.

Writers can take the concept of nicknames even further. In real life, our nicknames are often used by select groups among our circles. The same person could have different nicknames among his friends, family, and coworkers. Gandalf is called Mithrandir by the elves for instance (the name Mithrandir deriving from one of the languages Tolkien created with a meaning of its own). In one of my stories, the main character’s name is Dallon, and the majority of the other characters simply call him by his full name. In certain cases, however, other secondary characters will call him “Dal” or “Dalley”, but I control who uses which nickname for consistency and believability. Only his uncle calls him “Dal,” and only his childhood friends call him “Dalley.”

AUDIBLE CONNECTION

Does the character’s name have a phonetic or audible connection to their personality? Bamm-bamm from the Flintstones comes to mind, his name referencing the sound he makes swinging his club. There are two notable examples of this in The Hobbit. Bombur, the fattest of the dwarves, has a name that uses mostly rounded, wide letters like “B”, “O”, “M” and “U”. Even saying the name out loud makes you think of a round object bouncing about or the deep resonance or a large object. Gollum, on the other hand, (which also falls under the category of catchy nicknames, as his given name was Smeagol), has a name created by a throaty coughing sound he often makes. Other examples include Buzz Lightyear (the word “buzz” a subconscious indicator for something that flies), Lightening McQueen (“lightening” indicating something very fast), Hannibal Lector (the word Hannibal being different but audibly similar to the thing he’s most known for) or Flipper, the famous fictional dolphin. Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove is almost onomatopoetic in nature, resembling the sound made when you “conk” someone over the head with a frying pan, appropriate for his bumbling personality.

This is all subjective, of course, since there’s no guarantee that each reader will draw the same connections.

Also, interestingly, this doesn’t mean that doing the opposite is necessarily wrong. In Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, one of the hobbits is nicknamed Merry, which literally means happy. While he generally fits the stereotypical happy-go-lucky hobbit personality, he is often the more pragmatic, realistic and less carefree out of his group, making his name the opposite of how we perceive him. I can’t remember if that personality paradox was carried through from the books. This could also be comically useful, for example the character Pipsqueak in ATLA who is physically larger than all the others. Lesson: if you name a character Turbo, you likely either want to make them super fast or comically slow, or a comically slow snail that becomes super fast in the case of the Pixar hit.

Overall, the sound or sense of a word is a good place to start when choosing names of characters that have a notable attribute.

FUTURE WORD

Could their name become a colloquially used verb? To frankenstein two things together is a generally understood phrase, while the word originated as the name of a fictional character who did just that. A scrooge is an ungenerous miser, but the character was written before we begin using the word in everyday language. What if your character’s name could become a word that others later use as a verb?

COMBINED NAMES

Speaking of frankenstein-ing things, I read long ago that some believable sci-fi or fantasy names start by taking two normal-sounding names and mashing them together. For example, the combination of Grant and Kenneth could become Granneth or Kennant, which are both unique but familiar because of their syllables. I used that method for the name of a secondary character named Granneth in one of my WIPs. The possibilities are endless.

DESCRIPTORS

How about a unique descriptor or title that is used in place of a proper name? Queen Jadis of Narnia was the White Witch. Another witch, the Wicked Witch of the West, was in some adaptations named Momba and in other adaptations Evillene. I couldn’t figure it out even after reading various references, but either way she was generally only referred by her title.

Descriptors could also be used to show a characteristic, such as the fierceness (and depiction of dogs on his family’s arms) of The Hound, or Sandor Clegane from Game of Thrones. This type of title could also foreshadow or reveal interesting backstories, like Uncle Iroh from ATLA who is referred to as the Dragon of the West. The audience is led to think one thing, but doesn’t find out the true meaning of the title until the final season.

NAMES OF PLACES

Tolkien does a good job of juxtaposing unique names—Osgiliath, Minas Morgul, Barad-dûr, to name a few—with places using more commonly known words, albeit interestingly combined, like Helm’s Deep, Mount Doom, Mirkwood, or The Lonely Mountain. Generally I try to match the feel of the place with its name. For example, I use the names Bords and Faerloc for two towns in one of my ongoing projects. Bords is rougher, dirtier, and less colorful, while Faerloc, is… well… fairer.

NAMES OF THINGS

This is a tough one. I only recommend not to overdo proper names of mythical objects. The same story shouldn’t include The One Sword, The Red Helmet, The Seeing Crystal, and The Healing Goblet, or worse, several objects with no adjectives and a simple definite article (The Sword, The Helmet, The Crystal, The Goblet). The convention can quickly seem overdone, Tolkien’s use of The One Ring, The Dark Lord, The Horn of Gondor, etc. notwithstanding. He’s allowed.

What’s the solution? Honestly, I believe that every rule is made to be broken and every trope has a unique twist waiting to be found. Do what works for you and for your story. If your hammer of power has an excellent name like Mjölnir, by all means use it. You can also choose to forgo a name altogether. One of the most interesting mythical items in my opinion, Jack Sparrow’s compass, didn’t even have its own name but its backstory and intrigue hardly suffered for it.

NO NAME AT ALL

What if you don’t want to reveal your character’s name, either at first or at all? Nameless characters can be fascinating, and leaving their name unknown can help create suspense if that’s your goal.

You have several options here, and the handy chart I’ve drawn (above) may help. As a simple identifier you could give the character a unique physical trait or item of clothing (like a specific hat or unique eyebrows) a certain peculiar tick or habit (such as constantly tapping fingers or twirling a length of hair). Each time the reader encounters the hair-twirler, they’ll recognize your unnamed character. The more mysterious you want the character to appear, the less familiar details you want to include. One’s personality traits or profession is generally more specific than a physical attribute, and would only become known after spending a bit more time with the character, though not always. We know almost nothing of the antagonist in the show Impostors, whom at first they only call The Doctor.

No matter what, just like every other part of your story, the level to which you want your readers to be familiar with the character by name or trait is your own decision as the writer. There are many other ways to choose character names or identifiers, so feel free to create or adapt whatever method works best for you. After all, naming is just a method at your disposal to create as much or as little of a vision in your readers’ minds as you prefer. Use it well!

Theme

Finding a theme for your work is a daunting task. It’s almost expected that any work of writing should have a theme. At first I wondered why I couldn’t just write an enjoyable story, but then I thought back to all the enjoyable stories I’ve read/watched over the years, and most, if not all, of them, have a recognizable theme.

Sometimes authors use subtle, or not immediately recognizable themes. Tolkien’s work (and Jackson’s interpretations) in their grandeur and scale, often tease themes of a more everyday nature, and the juxtaposition is often heart-wrenchingly beautiful. The stories discuss bonds of friendship and the joys of a simple life while the characters traverse the known world to save everything in existence, producing a brilliantly effective theme.

By contrast, less disguised themes, when executed cleverly, can also elicit the audience’s joy. In HBO’s adaptation of Westworld, the main character often references a “path for everyone” in her musings. The story presents the idea of allowing all creatures to discover—and being allowed to discover—their own path in a clear and bold way.

Themes can also be faceted or layered. For example, superhero movies often follow an overarching theme of teamwork, but each individual hero’s storyline can have a theme unto itself—standing up for justice, rooting for the underdog, overcoming hardships, and the list goes on.

My current work in progress takes place in a world where folks historically fear the unknown and seldom leave the comfort of their environment. The characters often say things like “Stick to the road,” “Trust your compass,” or “Mind the guideposts.” However, as a journey-based fantasy, the main point-of-view characters are yanked out of their environments and thrust headfirst into the uncertainty of what they’ve never experienced, often against others’ well-intentioned admonition. In my next round of revisions I plan to nail down that concept as a theme and develop it more soundly. I’m sure many other stories tackle a similar theme, but my characters will lend a unique perspective.

Therefore, don’t stick to the road. Trust your gut just as much as your compass. Note the guideposts, but decide for yourself where your journey will take you.

Future

I love to write, but like many folks in the creative world, I had a day job too. That day job allowed me to have a nice apartment, food on the table, frequent travel, and so many other things I never thought I took for granted but never had to live without. All that was turned upside down when, along with so many of my colleagues in the tourism marketing and hospitality industry, our company laid off half of the workforce including my position and others on my team.

It’s been three months now (I know that because my health insurance has just run out), and I know I’m not alone in feeling anxious and skeptical during this experience. An interesting side effect, however, was the overabundance of time that I never had before. Time to reflect, time to nap, time to cook, and most excitingly, time to write.

I’ve written as long as I can remember. As a child I would re-write my children’s books in a ruled notebook. In my preteen years I explored poetry and used my family members as characters in a chapter story I made up based on a computer game (I would release a chapter each year at our family reunions). I cringe at the memory, but they thought it was cute. As a young adult I began crafting the basis for epic novels. I still have some of my early notebooks with pages of character descriptions and brainstorming on sci-fi creatures, maps, and environmental settings. I was worldbuilding without ever having heard the word. And I loved it.

Twenty years later, as of March 2020, I had come much further in my writing adventure. I had two viable concepts and at least half of a draft written for each, but no real motivation or energy to take it seriously. After getting laid off, that all changed. I chose one of the two stories and I wrote every single day. I dove deep into the characters and their relationships. I worked on dialogue. I nailed down the plot. I filled in all the gaps. I started taking my Twitter profile seriously. Now, after three months, I have a solid second draft that I am so, so proud of. As of this moment, four gracious souls are reading the draft to give me their critiques, two friends/family and two complete (vetted) strangers.

I can’t say how it will all turn out. My private goal has always been to publish traditionally, whether or not I’ve admitted it out loud or taken the steps to achieve it. The prospect is daunting and with all the amazing authors and steep competition, I’m nervous to even try. Yet, the fact that I’ve survived for three months without a job for the first time in my whole career has taught me that anything is possible, for better or worse. Querying agents is a tangible goal I can focus on. I have to try. The worst they can say is “no.” I’ll keep job searching, of course, staying motivated, and focusing on my physical and emotional health, but in the meantime I have my eye on the future.

Reminiscence

Reminiscing is to remembering as savoring is to eating. 

Many of our meals happen rushed, without thought and without real enjoyment. In fairness, not everyone finds equal satisfaction in their food (I struggle to understand this but it's true). And yet, the perception of what constitutes a gratifying meal varies from person to person. Often, we simply haven’t the time or resources to orchestrate an enjoyable food experience. Even more unfortunately, we often lack the desire or will to make any efforts toward a properly delicious meal.

The same happens with our memories. We catapult through life, constantly in search of the next unique adventure, barely stopping to actually live through our experiences in a way that will allow us to remember. It seems we automatically whip out our devices as a first instinct to document memorable moments, but as our attention drifts we sacrifice actual memories.

We are daily enticed to engage with those same devices instead of dedicating time to reminisce on the images, clips and sounds recorded in our most valuable storage center, our memory.

True, those choosing consumption for consumption’s sake over savory delight may confound us. I argue, however, that neglecting our reminiscence in favor of the moment may be short sighted and naive. Perhaps.

Honor

We generally accept honor as a positive trait. Honorable people put others before themselves and seek the greater good for its own sake, generally.

First of all, I should recognize that honor is not inherently an emotion, so therefore it shouldn’t fit into this analysis exercise. However, the more I brainstormed, the more I wanted to explore what this trait means.

Honor often appears in literature, movies and other genres of entertainment. It’s almost too easy to include because it’s such a conflicting trait, usually beginning positive but backfiring somehow.

Some cultures teach their youth to value honor above all else, but what happens when their honor requires them to enact vengeance upon the innocent? Some countries label their finest soldiers honorable but only in direct relation to the ruthlessness of their fighting. Meanwhile, those who refuse to fight are called cowards or traitors. As an even juicier plot line, those who have lost honor may go to unspeakable, deplorable lengths to regain it. It’s the perfect paradox.

Clearly, honor is a two-sided coin. One side shiny, pristine and the other mucked, usually with blood. This could be what makes honor such a desirable character trait for fiction, because the same admirable trait can quickly and easily become a deadly flaw.

Quote

“Love was no single feeling, could not be summed up in a single moment or a single expression. It was a swirling, undulating, festering tempest that changed within her constantly, making her need him.”

— Book 1: Prologue (First edit)

Wonder

There are certain incredible things about childhood that we tend to lose with age. Wonder is one of them. Children have an innate ability to simply... wonder.

What happens to us? As we age (and learn) we may simply have less to wonder about. As we get accustomed to reality, we may find that wondering disappoints more often than it gratifies. In fact, practically everything we do in life we do for the results. Work, exercise, study are all finitely results-oriented. Even many recreational pastimes depend on the score or the win. We often forget that the purpose of wondering has nothing to do with the result.

It's true, curiosity prompts us to pursue specific goals—finding answers, understanding concepts or solving problems. Curiosity is educational. It stems from strategy, or the active desire to complete a void. It can thus be satisfied, tied up neatly with a bow and effectively discarded.

Wonder, on the other hand, happens abstractly. Imaginatively. It generally lacks boundaries, structure, direction or finish lines. Its extreme passivity demands little to no investigation whatsoever. Our wonders lead us from one idea to another without making us feel the need to define, answer or complete the nebulous progression of thought. Wonder is not so suicidal as curiosity. It doesn't need to find the answer.

Perhaps that's why no cats were ever killed by wonder.

Welcome

You can call me Cristian. I'm no experienced or professional author, but I write. I enjoy writing, creating imagery with words, exploring fantastic possibilities. Incredible uncertainties. Commanding those uncertainties in writing has taught me to do the same in life. In fact, while I'm unsure about many things in life, at this moment I can guarantee two things with absolute certainty.

First, I have no idea what I'm doing. No idea whatsoever. I've never published anything written, and the discouraging stories behind other aspiring writers' experiences tends to shake one's head out of the clouds somewhat. Yet I will power on, to what success only time will tell.

Second, I will pour my heart into this. I have poured my heart into this. Hopefully the little justice in the world will see fit to grant my efforts some small measure of fulfillment.

This journal is meant to accompany the written work I may someday publish, stories that take place in a galaxy known as the Dromelian Truss. Be gentle with me, and do not take my musings seriously. I do hope you enjoy what you read and that it inspires you to pick up your pen, pencil, keyboard, stylus or even your mobile device and begin your own writing adventure.