Tag: choosing character names

scrabble tiles on an orange background - most are face down, but four spell out the word plan
Posted in Before You Begin, Craft, The Nitty Gritty of Children's Writing, Tools

Preplanning and Beginning to Write Your Novel

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Preplanning your novel. Some people outline, other writers just write. I’m the latter—a pantser with a plan. So, before we go any further, an explanation of the methods:

“To Pants or To Plot: Which One Is Best for Your Story?” by Nisha Tuli. This article has lots of references to other reading as well.

If you’re an outliner, I thought this article was helpful: “Outline Tools to Structure Your Children’s Book Plot.”

As a pantser, I still need to know some things before I can start actually writing. Whether I start with a character or plot, I need to know a little bit about who and what. I also like to have thoughts on where I think the story is going.

These posts from my archives might be of use before you write your novel.

Character related:

Making Friends: Character Development

Naming Characters – from Mary’s Notebook

Naming Your Character

The Right Number of Characters

Show Your Character’s Character

Viewpoint in Children’s Fiction – point of view – which can definitely change as you revise

Plot related:

Novel-sized Problem

Raise the stakes, honey!

Know what you’re writing:

So, You Want to Write a Book…

Theme and Premise

Writing a Novel? Where Does It Fit?

Especially for pantsers:

If you’re at the beginning stages of writing a novel, and don’t have an outline, how do you keep track of people, scenes, days of the week, etc.?

Here are some posts sharing thoughts on those topics:

Do You Have Style? aka Master Character Chart

The Story Ladder or Novel Timeline

I’d love to hear from others on how they plan and begin a novel. Feel free to share in comments.

Posted in Craft, The Nitty Gritty of Children's Writing

Naming Characters – from Mary’s Notebook

Posted on by Susan Uhlig

Guest post by Mary Blount Christianskateboarder.jpg
It helps when we create name for a fictional character to first create a background–positive and negative traits, talents, skills, interests, siblings and birth order, goals, conflicting emotions, support group [oft times friends more than siblings]. We make note of their needs–emotionally, physically, and spiritually; need to receive love and to give love, to have respect from peers and self, and to learn and achieve. Just ask yourself, what kind of character do I need to handle the challenges of my plot?beautifulgirl.jpg
I find giving them a name that seems right often makes things fall into place–is it a family name, an unusual one that may give way to teasing, a strong name or a weak one, or a preferred nickname? A good exercise is to imagine visiting the protagonist’s room. How is it decorated? Any posters on the walls? Does it reflect her taste or is it in conflict? Go through the character’s purse or wallet for the older characters, or the toy box or that treasure box tucked under the bed. What we keep defines us. People tend to carry their lives in their wallets–club memberships, family pictures, friends’ pictures, that sort of thing.
In the November 2011 The Writer magazine, Bharti Kirchner wrote an article, “Tips for Naming your Characters.” She suggests that you get to know your character first [gender, personality, place of birth, hidden traits, ideals and socioeconomic status. Even the smallest of our readers share these. In names, she suggests that you not use names that work for either gender [Pat, Robin, Chris, etc.]
As tempting as it is, it’s best to not give your characters names of your kin and friends. Your job is to give characters flaws and challenges that even those yearning to see their names in print probably won’t like. Names need to fit your character the way a glove fits your hand.
Other things to avoid because repetition gets boring or confusing:
– All characters with one syllable names [Sam, Bill, Jan]
– Rhyming names [Harry and Larry, etc.]
– Names all beginning with the same letter
– Difficult to pronounce or spell
You can find popular US names listed by the birth year on the web at https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/. Most recent year is 2015.
Here’s an index of researched surnames. For Asian names, try top 100 Chinese Surnames and Korean Surnames.
Host’s note: Looking for another ethnicity? Google it, but I hope you aren’t just using random last names with no idea about the culture where you got it. 😉

About Mary Blount Christian
Mary has more than 100 trade books published in the children’s–plus reprints in Braille French, Japanese, Indonesian–and young adult field with six adult mysteries due in 2016. Follow her blog here.
Kid photos courtesy of morguefile.com