To me, one of the most important parts of a story are the character's names. I think it's really cool when people take the time and effort to look up the meanings of names and make their character's personality match with the meaning of the name.
But not everyone has to get that technical. In my opinion, there are just a few small rules when it comes to naming characters.
Number One: Variety
Seriously, I never understand why authors would name all of their main characters with the same first letter! John, Jack, Jill, Janice and Jacklyn? How am I supposed to keep track of that madness? Please, have some variety.
Number Two: Origin
If your character is French, then it would make sense if they had a French name, right? You would think that would be self-explanatory. *sigh*
Number Three: Easy to say
It might seem like a good idea to give your character a really cool unique name, but if I don't even know how to say it, I'm going to get annoyed. At least sound it out in an author's note or something!
Number Four: Keep it Simple
Usually, a first and last name is enough for a character. Occasionally, you might want to throw in a middle name. There should never be a reason where you need your character to have 25 different names. Cassidy Emily Rebecca Van-Gough Picasso Clark? Yeah no thanks. I'm not typing all that out every time I mention that character. Cassidy Clark is plenty.
Number Five: Nicknames
I like my characters to have nicknames so that if someone in the story calls them by a nickname, the reader can assume their close friends/they already know each other. But keep the nicknames easy to understand. ex. Cassidy-Cass. Don't make them totally random to the point where I don't even know which character the nickname belongs to. ex. Cassidy-Spinach or something.
Okay so those are some basic rules for naming characters. Obviously there are probably more but I was just naming the ones I could remember.
I hope you Losers are having a great day! <3 And have an amazing {Canadian} Thanksgiving!
Love,
Emmalynn
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A Loser's Thoughts on Life
Non-Fiction//Highest Ranking: Number 45 in Non-Fiction// Hate is a strong word. I know that, that's why I use it. If you've ever been annoyed by stereotypes, character names, or just people in general, you have come to the right place: a collection of rants wh...
