On bad characters and names...
May 27, 2010
Here’s the thing — sometimes a name is just too great to use for a character. Have you ever run into this problem? I have a character who is struggling. She’s not particularly nice at this point in her life. And I hesitate to give her this name that I just love. Maybe if I give her the great name, she’ll change. And I need her to be nasty right now. I’ve written characters with the name Drifa a few times but I’ve not quite captured her yet…I really want to play the meaning of the name (Snow — and drifting snow) against the dominate trait of the character. So, I want Drifa to be warm, compassionate and kind; not cold and frigid. It’s too easy to give the name “Drifa” to a cold character. A little too pat.
Also, talking to Patrick Pilarski last night at Raving Poets, I told him I was thinking of dropping the name Mehmet (another name I love) because it was too hard to say — and yet, twice in our conversation, I said the name without pause. Patrick, God bless him, convinced me to NOT change Mehmet’s name. So, Mehmet and Pinsky and Inka’s journey continues. I know. Not a common name among them. They are surrounded by less exotic names….like Ruby, and Tony, and Nancy. Last night, while waiting for my daughter’s piano lesson to run its course, I edited the new book in a very loud bar…managed to blank out all the noise (visual and audible – the visual being the blond waitress with two full sleeves of tattoos and multiple facial piercings, wearing a micro miniskirt – oddly, I actually did find her attractive in a spot the most bizarre, messed up and potentially dangerous woman in the bar kind of way) for an hour and a half. Dropped myself into the book like it was home. I’m liking the working title right now: The World is Three Days.
6 Comments
1. Paulette had this to say: May 28, 2010 ~ 17:04 ~ #
Yes, names are particular – we want to be certain that when we call out a name in the hallway, the correct person will turn around. Right now, I have an obituary from the Journal tacked to my board = LACASSE, Marie-Rose Anne-Marie… sensational! French Canadians hyphenated names, a lot, because when a mother called out to her brood to come in for supper, it sounded like an entire village – it made her feel less alone I suppose.
Sometimes, like Rubis did for me, characters tell you in no uncertain terms, their full name… scares the beejeesus out of you, but at least then you are sure.
2. Dolly Dennis had this to say: May 30, 2010 ~ 21:35 ~ #
Is your Mehmet character from Turkey? Not sure if you are aware of Dr. Mehmet Oz better known as Dr. Oz on TV and he’s from Turkey. I usually go to the obit page to get my characters’ names!
3. thomas had this to say: May 31, 2010 ~ 08:12 ~ #
Obits are brilliant places for names. I know, Mehmet is a very popular name in Turkey. I also go to a naming website for ideas on names. You check off nationalities and away you go. (http://www.behindthename.com/random/)
It’s a place to start…Thanks Dolly and Paulette.
(By the way, I have a character “Dolly Varden” lurking about in cafes and libraries, waiting her turn in a book — actually the name of a trout but what a name, and what a character….)
4. Dolly Dennis had this to say: May 31, 2010 ~ 17:05 ~ #
Hey, thanks Thomas for the heads up re that website. I’ll check it out. Yes, I’ve been known to lurk in cafes and libraries and looking forward to the book. A trout has that name? You’re weird Thomas. :) Actually Dolly is a nickname for Dali which is a short name for Danguoli. It’s Lithuania. So is your Dolly a nickname for Dorothy? Had a boss in early seventies Montreal who was of the old school and when he called me in for dictation, he’d never call me Dolly but Dorothy because Dolly was too familiar . So I would sit there outside his office wondering who the hell he was calling and then I found out Dolly was a nickname for Dorothy!
5. thomas had this to say: Jun 01, 2010 ~ 08:54 ~ #
Yes!!! There’s a trout named the Dolly Varden trout!!! I know! I think I would like to eat a Dolly Varden trout some day.
6. Paulette had this to say: Jun 01, 2010 ~ 15:31 ~ #
Oh Thomas Honey, you such a little thing, if you fell out the boat, Dolly Varden would eat you first… XORubis