What's in a Name? Choosing Names for Your Fictional Characters.

How do you name your characters? Do names matter? Do you stick with names you know or have heard? Do you make them up yourself? I’m sure most writers have some type of system, and I would like to share mine with you.

First of all, when I try to think of a character name, I usually need help getting past the everyday Jennifer and Jason, Debby and Donald, Michael and Michelle. These names don’t evoke emotion in me anymore because I have seen them so many times.

(Ok, Michael is my son’s name--he is named after my father-in-law, but that’s a personal emotion—not a reader emotion.)

When choosing character names, it is important to consider genre and your audience. If you are writing leveled readers for first graders, by all means, use names like Tim, Bob, and Jan. You throw Aretha in a first grade leveled reader, and your manuscript is likely to go in the circular file.

Here are a few random(ish) names (some pulled from my writing, others truly random). What emotions do these names evoke? Who do you picture in association with each name? Do certain names seem to lend themselves well to certain genre?

Leda

Arnetha

Beck

Lindsay

John

Leon

Ruth

Ryan

Kristy

Kate

Elizabeth

Charles

James

Katherine

Laura

Jennifer

Joe

Daniel

Steve

Loraine

I will share my perspective on those names in a minute. But first I want you to consider: 

Do you get a different vibe from Katherine versus Catherine? 

How about Cathy/Kathy? Kate?    Kristy/Christie?    John/Jon/Jonathan?  

What about Lizbeth and Elizabeth? 

For me, a different spelling can completely change my perception of a character. (Note: Please do not take offense if one of these names is yours and you do not like my initial assumption--I know many people with these names who are not described by my initial reactions--for demonstration purposes only).

Leda – Pretty and exotic, but older woman.

Arnetha – Could be sci-fi, Fantasy

Beck – Strong and Handsome. 

Lindsay – High school girl—cheerleader? Popular.

John – Tall, strong, solid

Leon – Small stature, whiny.

Ruth - Shy, dark hair, glasses.

Ryan – High school – Popular, Football player

Kristy – Mom of young children, pretty, blond

Kate – Strong, tall, dark hair.

Elizabeth – Woman of stature, Wealth, a noble name

Charles – A young boy trying to be a man. (Charlie...wants to be called Charles)

James – Older, a gentleman

Katherine – tall and strong of character

Laura – Historical name, strength of character

Jennifer – Mom (Jen or Jenny if younger character)

Joe – Comedian (This is personal; every Joe I know is a joker).

Daniel – Strong, dark hair

Steve – slim, dark hair

Loraine – curly dark hair, exotic eyes

Now, you may completely disagree with my visualization of these names…and that’s okay. The main thing is to establish that people will judge your character by their name; names have significance. 

Sometimes I will pick a temporary character name to use in my draft, simply so I can get on with the draft without spending time picking the perfect name for my character. Other times my character will change his or her essence and prompt me to change their name due to my preconceived notions regarding their name.

Currently, I have two main ways that I pick my character’s names—besides out of thin air like I did with Loraine.

            1.   Online search:

This may look different each time you search depending on what you are looking for.

·         Interesting baby names

·         Lawyer names

·         Noble names

·         Cheerleader names

·         Baby names 1912

·         Vietnam Wall names

·         Pioneer names

            

           2. Cemeteries

Yes, cemeteries. I look at the names (and dates) on headstones in old family cemeteries. Headstones are particularly helpful for my historical fiction. I learn:

·         Historical names

·         Popular names in a certain time-period

·         Average age of death in a certain time period

Taken at Turkey Creek Cemetery on a recent trip to Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky.

To these name-finding resources I would add:

1.  Phonebook: if you still own one
2.  Genealogy search: can provide information on average family size etc.
3. Family: personally I would use extended family, deceased grandparents etc. 
4.   Bible: look at the “begets”—there are lots of name options there. 

How do you choose character names? Have I given you any additional resources to check out? Comments are appreciated. Follow me on social media for future tips.

 

Picture prompted.

Photo Credit:

"Foggy Otzarreta" by Joserra Martinez:http://bit.ly/PGw37k

+MJ Bush asked "What kind of scene would you write here?" Here is my response:

Breathless, Loraine slumped against the tree--a soft cushion of moss beneath her. She peered through the early morning fog back the way she had come--towards Morling Manor.  

The house would soon be waking; they would find her missing and set the dogs on her. Loraine dipped her bare feet, bloodied by sharp rocks, into the water. Whirlpools of red, changed to pink froth and were swept downstream. The wounds healed almost immediately on contact with the water. 

Loraine's fingers splayed over the moss carpeting the forest floor. If only she could stay in this place--but such dreams were impossible. Her kind would never be safe in Shermel Forest; not while the Morlings were around. She shivered at the thought of her recent captivity--she must keep going. 

Thanks for reading. I would love to hear your thoughts! Leave me a comment.

What on earth is a Grease Jar?

Grease Jars:

Hillcreek Pottery sampling of Grease Jars at +Silver Dollar City Attractions 

Perhaps you have heard the term grease jar before, and perhaps you have not. To be honest, I don’t recall ever hearing the term growing up, but I am aware that my grandmother used one and most likely yours did too. 

A grease jar is just a jar of bacon grease which is going to be used later for something else. They are especially popular with people who enjoy cooking with cast iron because they help to keep the cast iron well-seasoned.

My grandmother kept her grease jar beside the stove, and used her grease often enough that it did not go bad. Some people still keep them next to the stove but I worry about spoilage and keep mine in the fridge.

Okay, my current grease jar is an old canning jar, but I love this one 

from Hillcreek Pottery at +Silver Dollar City Attractions 

When you are ready to use your grease, bring it out of the fridge and scoop it out like shortening--or you can warm it up a bit to use it as a liquid.

I had planned to write an entire post dedicated to grease jars and their use, but there is someone else who has already done it—and probably better than I could. Christy Jordan at SouthernPlate.com is who originally taught me (through her posts) the wonders of bacon grease. 

Sure, I had reused grease to fry eggs but that was about the extent of it. Christy showed me what I was missing.

Read about grease jars here and here on her website and look around at all of the other great recipes and stories she shares. 

Do you have a grease jar? Did your grandma have one? 

How to Use a Thesaurus to Improve Your Writing

As a fairly new writer, my thesaurus has quickly become a close companion. A thesaurus is used to find synonyms or antonyms to common (or uncommon) words--they can be helpful for vocabulary building, or just adding some variety to your writing. A thesaurus can be an excellent writing tool but it can also get you into trouble. Currently, I use an online thesaurus rather than a print one simply because it is at my fingertips on my phone, tablet, or laptop.

Thesaurus:

Photo credit: +Martha Curtis

What happens when you look up thesaurus in a thesaurus?

I tried it on thesaurus.com and was rewarded with this list of words:

• Reference book
• Glossary
• Lexicon
• Onomasticon
• Terminology
• Vocabulary
• Language reference book
• Sourcebook
• Storehouse of words
• Treasury of words

Dictionary.com defines the word Thesaurus as ‘a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms’

As I am writing, or rather, as I am editing, I begin to notice words terms I have used over and over again. These repetitions make my writing sound tired and dull stale and boring even to me.  If I can’t be excited about what I have written after only the second or third time seeing it, I know it will not seem fresh to a readers eyes either be stimulating to my reader either.  

In the above paragraph, I used the strike-through so that you could see some of the possible changes a thesaurus can help you to make. (Apologies for any difficulty you had reading it as a result).

I use my thesaurus to banish clichés from my writing, I use them to improve the description of a scene, and I use them when I cannot find the right word. I occasionally use the thesaurus to find a word that I have previously heard in conversation but am unsure of the meaning.

In her article, Is the Thesaurus Your Friend?, K.M. Weiland asks: 

'Why should a writer limit his vocabulary to words he's known and used all his life? If a word is correct for your story, it doesn't matter if you've known the word for years or if you just learned it.' 

 (Note: this is a partial quote, for the caveat; click through to her blog post).

Writing is not simply putting one word after another; good writing has a rhythm and flow that is almost musical. Consider your favorite Dr. Seuss book. Would he have been so popular writing about Sam the Turtle instead of Yertle the Turtle? Of course not! The lyrical way that he organized words is what made his books popular.

Readers do not want to read tired sentences; they enjoy lyrical locution. 

Would you rather listen to someone lecture in a monotone, or are you engaged by speakers with expressive inflection? Do you tune people out when they use the same tired words again and again? Personally, I would rather listen to someone who has life to their voice, and similarly want to read someone who has given that life to their words.

Perhaps you already know hundreds of thousands of words, and don’t believe you need a thesaurus. Let me ask you. Can you always recall the exact word you want to use at a given time? Do you know their meanings, and can you arrange them in a sentence with lyrical flow? If so, perhaps a thesaurus would not be your tool of choice.

Look at the possibilities for replacing the word "large" in your writing...

Look for inspiration in the antonyms too!

Photo credit: +Martha Curtis 

The thesaurus can be a great asset to help you find less-used words, or to help banish clichés from your writing but it can also be your downfall.

When you look up synonyms, you might see a word there that you had overlooked or didn't previously know the meaning to. Before you use it, consider this—will your reader know what it means? There are some words you can let context define for you, but if you get too heavy-handed with these flowery words, your reader will feel as though you are writing over their head and will lose interest quickly. Let this be a word of caution to use those words sparingly.

In her article, Hint to Writers: Use the Thesaurus with Caution, Jennifer Blanchard wrote: 

'By using the thesaurus to change words I thought were “common,” I ended up sounding fake. And readers can always tell if a writer is being genuine or not.'

Consider these examples:

The blonde laughed at me.

The golden-haired beauty giggled at me.

The auricomous gentlewoman cachinnated at me.

I personally would not have a clue what the writer was trying to tell me if I read that last sentence. I would either skim it and keep going—perhaps losing an important element in the story—or I would lay the book down and probably not pick it back up. Either way, if the writer did this to me again—I would be turned off and would not bother finishing the book.

A thesaurus can be a great tool to help you engage your reader and offer them some verbal variety but you must be careful not to overuse it. 

Do you use a thesaurus in your writing? If not, will you after reading this article? What is your favorite writing tool? I would love to hear from you in the comment section.

Linking to:
http://www.makealivingwriting.com/ 

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 3/30/2014

Confession: All of these photos are archives--but only from a week ago. I got into writer mode this week, and completely forgot to turn photographer mode back on. On the upside, I finished and submitted two pieces (will definitely post here if they get published), read tons about writing, plus worked a little on my novel and my blog layout. So, all in all it was a productive week, whether or not I took fresh pictures.

1. What IS that?

I didn't realize blowing the picture up would make it look so strange, but you might recognize it as peanut brittle being poured from a copper kettle at +Silver Dollar City Attractions 

 2. Yum!

Enjoying a fresh warm funnel cake dusted with powdered sugar.

3. On the Road

The sun was setting behind us as we left Branson for home.

 4. On the Shelf

I love these Grease Jars from Hillcreek Pottery at #SDC. 

(Look for a post later this week about grease jars and their use).

5. Bad Habit

Hi, my name's Michael and I'm an appleholic. 

((Hi, Michael))

--Ok, really he was bowling for apple juice but it sure was cute.

Thank you all for looking. I enjoy hearing from you if you stop by to visit my blog. Linking up with: 

A Temporary Change in Writing Focus Can Increase Your Productivity

How do you know when the story you are working on is the one you need to be working on at any given moment? For me, it has to do with focus. If things that couldn't possibly happen in my story keep popping into my head, I take that as a sign I need to take a break and work on something else for awhile...namely whatever it is that keeps popping into my head.

I consider myself to be a historical fiction and poetry writer with a few true stories from my own life thrown in for good measure. However, I recently had this great idea for a story in the science fiction/fantasy genre and no matter what I did, I could not get rid of this idea that had taken up residence in my brain...but then when I tried to focus on it, it felt forced because it is different than what I am used to writing. I felt like I really didn't have a good plot, just a good scene or two really--that's when I decided to take advantage of the one great scene and try writing some flash fiction. I am still in the drafting stages but I think flash may be just long enough to use the material that inspired me without forcing me to create a full plot in a genre I am unfamiliar with. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I have another story in the works as about an Army Sniper in Vietnam which I began writing to show my husband that I have ability as a writer and that I could even write something he would be interested in. I think it may turn into another flash fiction also, or possibly a short story due to my personal interest in the story waning. Each time I think about trying to create a full novel from that story, I find myself unable to come up with a full plot, or even other characters that seem believable.

The novel I originally started is about a young girl growing up in rural Kentucky during the depression, who is suddenly thrown into an adult role where she has to make adult decisions and take care of her family herself when her mom falls ill. This was my main focus when I started writing, and I think I have plenty of material, as well as ideas for a second and third book already--but I don't want to get bogged down in a novel for the next two years and come to the realization that I am the only person who is interested in such a novel. So, I am splitting my focus a bit in order to get my feet wet and discover my niche.

If you find yourself staring at the blank page, try putting it away for awhile. If you feel the need to write something, try going for a different genre or writing just for fun--see where it takes you.

Update: I have a fully written children's book ready to publish, and a rough draft started on another (with ideas for several more.) My writing journey has been full of twists and turns, setbacks and bursts of inspiration. I don't think I will ever be on the straight flat road as a writer, but I am enjoying the bumps and twists of the scenic route right now.

How do you determine what you will write on a given day? Do you have more than one thing going at a time, or do you have to focus solely on one story in order to make it work? What are you writing today?

A Vacation from Education?

Last week, my children and I joined my Mom for a quick vacation in +Branson Missouri. When Alyson was in public school, we were not as conscious of including learning in our vacation time as we are now. As a home-school mom, I have figured out how to have a fun day and still count much of it as school time. Please don't mistake this--I am not saying we should never have fun just for the sake of fun--after all, that is a part of learning too! I want to share with you what we have done in the past to incorporate learning, and what we plan to do in the future as well.

One of the best places I have found for a vacation that is both educational and fun is +Silver Dollar City Attractions. They even have some lesson plans already made up for you (most of these work better for children older than mine).

While at #SDC Alyson practiced budgeting: she wrote down each item she wanted to purchase as we walked through the park, and then figured out how much money she had and which things she could afford this trip versus which things she could live without until next time. Considering the length of her original list, I counted this as handwriting practice too.

She practiced map reading and orienteering as she looked for which ride, 

shop or show she wanted to visit next and led us there using the park map.

 We visited Sullivan's Mill and learned how corn is ground into cornmeal. 

Prompted a discussion on what cornmeal is used for.

 Peanut Brittle was being made at Brown's Candy Factory, so we stopped to watch the lesson 

and learned how to make 18 lbs of peanut brittle.

We also visited Hill Creek Pottery, and watched this young lady making large mugs/steins on the pottery wheel. Alyson was enthralled. She didn't move from this spot the entire time we browsed the store.

We joined the Gospel singing at the Wilderness Church which falls under music appreciation.

Things we did not do this time but have in the past include:

Tour Marvel Cave (Geology, Bats, Local history)
Watch the glass blowers at work at Hazel's.
Watch taffy being made at Phoebe Snapp's
History Lesson at the Oak Trail Schoolhouse
and much more!

We learn something every time we visit Silver Dollar City, so I almost always count it as at least a partial school-day What have you learned while on vacation? At SDC or anywhere else...?