[stylist] Naming characters

[Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter]

I've used people as inspirations for characters. Never have I used a real
person and took their exact personality and mannerisms, but I've definitely
based a character off of real people, borrowing certain personality traits
and such. There have been times when I use the first letter of a real name
for a character, but usually I just come up with a name like any other
character.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Vejas
Vasiliauskas via stylist
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2017 2:44 PM
To: Writers' Division Mailing List <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Vejas Vasiliauskas <alpineimagination at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [stylist] Naming characters

Tessa,
What have you or anyone else done about a character whom you want to base on
someone you know in real life? Do you usually have that character start with
the same letter as the person you know?
Vejas


 ----- Original Message -----
From: Tessa via stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 03 Jan 2017 14:47:08 -0500
Subject: Re: [stylist] Naming characters

Thanks, yes that's about the way I do it, names come and they're usually
appropriate, but I tend to spend a lot of quality time in my head with my
characters before they get on the computer.
Kenyan apparently spends time and research on character names but she also
has quotes in her book from writer's who don't.
I often pick up names from books, or from just listening to stuff locally,
we have a large Finnish population so we get names like Toivo and Helgi,
male and Aija saija and kaija female the j is pronounced like a y.  Of
course parents are also being very creative and inventing names I remember
reading something that said the name Wendy hadn't been used before until jm
barrie used it in peter pan.
I've read where an author will go through the phone book picking out
appropriate names or name ideas, not necessarily practical for us but now
many of the baby naming books are being made available in alternate formats.
Oddly enough one of my characters is named Martin, he's an assassin among
other things, Martin is not a name I would have considered for that
particular life style, but it's stuck for some reason and it works.
Names are definitely interesting.
Tessa

----- Original Message -----
From: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via stylist  <stylist at nfbnet.org
To: his'Writers' Division Mailing List'"  <stylist at nfbnet.org
Date: Tuesday, January 3, 2017 12:43 pm
Subject: [stylist] Naming characters



 Tessa,

 First, happy New Year.

 Second, I really like the name Tessa, grin.

 Third, I usually use whatever name pops in my head when writing.  
Of course,
 I mostly write nonfiction, so that's a horse of another color, smile, but
when I do write fiction, which I did just start a new story, I do a lot of
thinking in my head before I even begin writing anything down, and often
names will just come.  Usually the first name I come up with is what sticks.

 Not a lot of thought goes into the naming of my characters, smile.

 Bridgit



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