I can't seem to get passed needing just the right name, so I was glad to find none other than the great Betsy Byars has the same problem.
She says a lot about naming book characters, via her website, but I especially love this about McMummy:
One of the things that's important to me is getting the names right, and I couldn't think of a good name for Mozie's friend. Then one day I was out in the yard talking to my neighbor. Her name's Batson. and she started telling me a story and then she interrupted herself to say, "Now, I'm not taking about Little Batty - I'm talking about Big Batty." That's how Batty Batson got his name.
Also I didn't have a name for the beauty contestant. Then one day I stopped at a red light and looked at a sign on a gas station that said Valvoline. Yes!
That's how we feel when the perfect name jumps out and says USE ME!
Someone once posted somewhere that he uses names plucked from his spam email.
From my spam email?
CLEMMIE MARLINE
I like it!
But I'm looking for a boy name. And it's got to be perfect. When I shared this on Facebook, I got some doozies. So far, nothing's speaking to me. Yet.
I keep a notebook filled with great names. None seems right for this bad boy, but I'm saving the most recent addition, from a funny kid in Indiana who told me his friend's name is Lyric. Don't you love that! I already have a character in mind for that great name.
Anybody else out there struggling with a character's name?
Related Posts: The Name Game!
Character Naming
I like Lyric. I am struggling for a name and I feel it needs to start with the letter M somehow. I'm almost there but not quite.
ReplyDeleteHi Augusta,
ReplyDeleteI found you through a comment on Janice Hardy's fantastic blog and had to come check you out...because of your name. Is it really yours or is it your pen name? It's fabulous either way. I have the same hang-ups when naming my characters. They seem so real to me that I want to name them properly.
Aidan
Aidan, it's really my name. Others have attempted to steal it for a character, but I'm hanging on to it!
ReplyDeleteThanks to both of you for your comments. Names are so important that it's worth the struggle to get it right, isn't it.