I'm in the ugh group about names. It causes me pain and a stone when I write.I am always at AHHHH! In fact it just happened now while I was working on my latest script and it's not the first time. So here I am posting the question. Am I alone in that universe?
What's your experience with naming characters? Nirvana level joy, pain, something else?
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For me also. The 'hard' names I see sometimes are funny; Sam Granite, Rick Steel, Harold Rails. No one is Sam Patterson.
But then again we write fantasy so why let a little thing like a 'real' name get in the way.
Invent with freedom.
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I take a normal name/word and change a couple letters for an original name.
Joe to Roe
Wrestler to Restler
Sara to Sava
Boom: Savan Resler
I make sure to have a couple normal names in the script.
Great I'm not alone! Ha ha Mico thanks for sharing your trick. That's pretty cool. Hey Peter it's a perfection problem with my brain. Every script is my opus.
@Mico Cool tip and thanks for share. Edgy and out of the box solution. @All This sounds strange but my characters name themselves. In other words I write the story scenario and their physical and psychological attributes then let them interact with other characters. Their situation/reaction and personality gives me an organic feel for their name. When I first started writing I named the characters in the very first instance but would often change their name at the end of the script. @WL Understand your angst about names, in the past I got up middle of night to change both first and surnames but now I've strategy of not naming until at least first ten pages. A writer can give a name in the first instance off course but characters grow and change throughout the journey and often surprise the writer.
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WL, I really have a ball when it comes to naming characters!
I'm a sports fan (and I ran track in high school)...and one of my tricks is to go to a football encyclopedia, a baseball encyclopedia, or a basketball one (or one of the sports yearbooks companies like Street & Smith or Athlon turn out) and get last names from them.
All the VERY BEST to you, WL!
You can still use name generators on internet. Doesn't always work but you can find some cool ones. Depends on the genre of your material as well in my opinion, some names fit better to a certain genre.
I often pick a name - almost any name - to get started and then, as I get a better feel for the character I look for a name that's a better fit. Sometimes, in the beginning, I'll just use a predominant character trait for the name. I might name someone "Angry" or "Unfocused." Something that keys me into the personality. I probably change close to 50% of my character names at some point during the writing process.
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names are a headach for me. Sometimes something great pops into my head but most of the time I struggle and from one project to another I use the same old lables. ARG!
I usually start with the ethnicity of the character and then search a list of baby names by ethnicity as well as common surnames and come up with a combination that rolls off the tongue easy and natural and that fit the character's personality. I usually have a fun time with it.
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I loved what Matthew Weiner did with names in Mad Men - Don Draper's background is draped in mystery. "Sterling" has white hair, drinks clear liquor, surrounds himself in white furniture in his office. Laine Pryce deals with all the financing. Freddie Rumson is an alcoholic. I loved the way in which characters' names related to their physical attributes, backstories, or character attributes.