As I said in my post on the 11th of this month, when it comes to starting a new wip (work in progress), choosing proper names for characters is right up there in importance with profession and core beliefs. Distinctive, and properly chosen names can define characters, help establish their personalities, and bring appropriate word pictures to readers.
His make believe life is fine…until it collides with her new reality
Madison Clark no longer believes in heroes. Not after being widowed amid scandal and left with two adolescent boys to raise. With the realities of overwhelming mom duties and an irreparably broken heart, any kind of happily ever after fantasy is nowhere on her radar. Especially when the so called super hero her youngest son seems to worship brings more harm than help to her shattered family situation.
Adam Hollingsworth aka Adam Pride has always been dubbed a hero. A cop by profession and fictional super idol by chance, he’s used to being surrounded by groupies and takes their adoration with a grain of salt. Until he befriends a boy obviously in need of a father figure. A role he begins to take seriously, if only the mother involved will let him.
That’s the rough draft premise of, On The Make, Brothers in Blue, Book #3, my latest work in progress for The Wild Rose Press. As I began writing the book, I wasn’t sure how those two adolescent boys would impact the story. What I did know was they would play an integral part in it. So, of course the first order of busienss was to figure out their names. Right off the bat I came up with, and quickly rejected, Richie and Kyle. I know the character Richie in On The Make needs to have some real teenage angst issues in order to move the story forward. For a variety of reasons, Richie just didn’t seem to fit. And Kyle was out because, without realizing, I used Kyle for a character in a novella I wrote and published this last year.
After more time than I’d care to admit scanning Baby Name websites, even putting out a plea on FaceBook for suggestions, I came up with Cameron and Dak. Don’t asked me why or where those names came from, they just appeared one day in my consciousness and I liked them. They fit. I even wrote a scene between the angst filled teenaged boy and his currently overwhelmed mother.
“Since you were our first, your father gave me the honor of choosing your name.” Madison selected each word carefully in order to make Cameron feel extra special. “He’s the one who decided on Dak.”
While he’d at least shown the courtesy to listen, he obviously didn’t feel compelled to look at her as she spoke. With his head still down, and his eyes averted, he finally opened his mouth. Madison held still, consumed by her interest in his response.
“Wish Dad had picked my name instead.”
The come back was so abrupt, and so cruel, she physically drew away from him. More hurt than surprised.
“I’m sorry things didn’t work out that way.” She kept her response short, her tone tight.
“Whatever.”
After his second comment, she didn’t move. Couldn’t more than didn’t want to. Stunned at how quickly their once loving relationship had deteriorated. Almost to the point she wasn’t sure any of it was salvageable.
Hot tears stung as she quickly shook her head to dislodge the thought. She’d never give up on either one of her sons. Ever.
“Mom! Phone’s for you.” Dak’s voice tumbled down on her from upstairs, jolting her into action.
“Coming!”
In Cameron’s defense, who really does like their own first name? I don’t particularly care for mine. Not a common name by any stretch, I’ve only met five other Margos in my lifetime. Plus, it seems I’m constantly correcting new acquaintances, salespeople, businesses and the like that my name is not Marge, Margaret, Marlo or Marco. And it’s spelled M-a-r-g-o, not Margot or even Margaux.
What about your own first name. Do you like it? Why or why not? How about those names of some fictional characters you’re aware of? Same questions.
My days to blog here are the 11th and 23rd. For more about me and the stories I write, please visit my website
18 comments:
Great topic, Margo. As a kid, I hated my first name. It was pretty obscure back then and no one seemed to know how to pronounce it. Mostly I got "Lee" with a few "Laylas" or Lay-uh (like Princess Leia...before there was a Princess Leia). My name means weary in Hebrew (I think my mom was prophetic there). In the Bible, Leah was the sister that Jacob didn't want (he wanted the sister Rebekah), and she only wound up married to the guy because her father tricked the groom! What kind of heritage did my mother saddle me with? -- That's what I grew up thinking. Now that the name is more common (in various spellings), I'm okay with it. :-) And I love your name by the way! And your character names in your new story!
Could it be you dismissed Richie because I pointed out the kid isn't 50? LOL I'm not crazy about my name, either. No one can spell it. I've named so many characters at this point, I feel like I'm running out of good ones to use! That's my latest challenge. I may have to trade my baby name book for a newer model to reflect all the trendy new names popping up! Great job on the blurb, BTW.
Ahh. Names. Can't get stranger than mine. I changed the pronunciation from accent on the first syllable to accent on the second syllable when I came west to start my education career. (My mother said the name was meant to be said this way...but who knows why no one enforced it?) I say to people: "Roll-IN, the opposite of Roll-OUT," when I first meet them. Makes people smile...takes out some of the reticence about saying my name; still I can tell that many people stumble at my name-calling. I let them call me Roly-long 'o'-out here. Less angst about pronunciation.
Sooooo.....For characters, you won't be surprised when I chose familiar names, easy to pronounce and shorten for a nickname. Reader's are already jumping into a crazy new world with my stories...I like to give them characters with familiar names.
Oh my goodness, Leah. It seems as if you've survived so much all ready with your name. ;-) You know what they say about ... makes you stronger. I had a friend named Leah in high school. Glad you like my name. Wanna trade? ;-) As I understand, it means Pearl. My dad picked it out after serving in WWII over in Europe. Yeah, if I do say so myself, Cameron and Dak kind of resonated with me.
Jannine - BTW the friend I had in high school with your name spelled it Janeen. What is that again we say about you -- driving force or is it bossy? ;-) Yeah you did nix Richie pretty quickly, I might add. It is a challenge to find names, after you discard people you know and names you've used already, it makes for a pretty slim pool to choose from. Thanks for the compliment on the blurb. Can't remember now which one of us wrote that one.
Oh, no, RO-lynn, is how I've been pronouncing your name and now you tell me it's wrong? AKKK. Gotta retrain myself. You're right, in our writing, the easier the better as far as names. Nothing stops a reader quicker than a name that's hard to, well, read. So, Ro-LYNN, now I need to research and see what yours means.
I never liked my name. Growing up, I didn't know anyone named Diane. I guess as I grew older, I adjusted to the name. I always wanted a nickname. Hubs is the only one who calls me Di. And a few good friends who've heard him. To me, that makes his nickname for me special. Character names are a challenge. I'm revising an older story where the hero's name is Alex. Since Alex O'Hara is my female PI in the mystery series, I can't really have a guy named Alex. On top of that, the heroine's name is Kate. That's my DIL's name. Couldn't write a love scene and not think about her and my son. eww. So I had to change both their names. Good thing you posted those links to baby names last time, Margo.
Nicknames are fun. I always wanted one too. My husband calls me Margi, with a hard g. A girlfriend of mine in high school, again, used to call me Mar. I hear you with our characters having family names. There are so many neat names I could choose too for my characters, but they’re also the names of ours and some of our kids’ friends. Talk about the eww factor. I should have reposted those baby name links, but I was pressed for time. Don’t tell anyone. I remembered it was my day to post at about ten o’clock last night. My fingers were flying over that keyboard.
What a fun post, Margo. But you know, if you have to make a point of explaining your name, maybe it won't be too easily forgotten. That's a good thing for an author. I never gave my name much thought. Until I was an adult, I'd only met one other Brenda. So I liked the uniqueness I guess. When I moved to the Midwest, I met a bunch of Brendas. I did like how I was named...after a comic book heroine, Brenda Starr, a newspaper reporter.
Most of us don't like our given names. I'm an Elizabeth in the age when the middle name was generally Ann(e) or Lou(ise). I'm a plain Ann. I was called Betty Ann as a child, with my favorite aunt being called Betty Lou. I wanted my mother to call me Elizabeth but she said it was too big a name for a child. When I started school, I told everyone to call me Betsy, forgetting the most famous doll of the time was Betsy Wetsy. Ah well...
I remember Brenda Starr, Brenda. She was a strong, take no prisoners type. I guess one positive about my name is a never had to add the first initial of my last name to any papers when I was in school.
I had a Betsy Wetsy doll, Betsy. She was the rage at the time. There was also the still famous Betsy McCall doll. I'm sure you could have pulled off Elizabeth. Now you're talking nicknames, like Diane and I always wanted. I coveted Veronica from the old Archie comics, and everyone called her Ronnie. I thought that was so very, very cool. I love my middle name, after my mother, it's Joy. My oldest daughter, cousin, and granddaughter also have the middle name Joy.
My mother named me Vonnie and then insisted I signed my school papers Veronica because in her opinion it sounded better. My teacher chided me for not using my legal name. But I've had Bonnie, Ronnie, Connie, Lonnie, Vinnie, and Vonda. So, no, I'm not wild about my name.
Great post, Margo. Some cultures (e.g., Burmese, Native American) change their name to change their luck. I think that's appealing if you don't like the one you were given!
You do have a unique name, Vonnie. Go ahead, use my Veronica if you want. Anytime. ;-) I don't mind.
Oh, and, Vonnie. Hard to believe ANYONE dared chide you. Really?
Ooooh, Sharon. A post for another day. If you could change your name to whatever (whomever) you wanted, what would that be? Thanks for stopping.
Fun post. I always hated my name. It was an 'old lady's' name, and now I AM an old lady, so it fits. (My legal, given name is Alice). Nicknames ARE fun. I've always been called Ally (or 'little outlaw' when I was small, but we won't go into that...). I admit I don't spend much time on secondary character names, unless I know they'll have their own story later. But, perhaps I should. Thanks for the enjoyable post!
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