Please welcome my first ever guest to the blog, author Daryl Wood Gerber!
Whew! Have I ever created a lot of characters!
By Daryl Wood Gerber
In order
to keep the names straight, I generate cast lists. I have an alphabetized list
for all the characters in all of my books, too. I’ve created over 1,000
characters. Can you believe it? I try to come up with a different name for each
character in each book. Sure, I might double up a first name, like Adam,
Anthony, or Candace, but never in the same series. I might duplicate a
last name, too, but with the same caveat . . . never in the same series unless
they’re related.
How do I choose the names? Well, I come up with a character type—their look, their personality—and then I find the name that fits that character the best. Sometimes it’s the surname that describes the character. No, I never come up with a name like Dr. Evil . . . heh-heh. But I have come up with last names that might suggest evil. Sometimes I try names out by saying them out loud, and if they stick, I keep them. I’ve been known to change names for characters mid-book. Jesse became Jenna (close). Kathleen became Vivian (not even starting with the same letter). I’ve given some characters offbeat names because I remember quirky names well. However, that method can backfire. A few fans have written that a name was too weird. For example, they didn’t like Edsel. Why not? I know an Edsel. Not everyone can be Tom, Dick, or Harry. I’ve had fun with surnames, too. Hildenbiddle makes me giggle. Orbendorfer sounds intriguing.
In the Literary Dining Mysteries, the protagonist is Allie Catt. Yes, I had a ball coming up with her name and creating a history of how she handles the ribbing she has received. Why did her parents saddle her with that name? Heaven only knows! They weren’t thinking. Honestly, they didn’t excel in the parenting department at all. In the 2nd in the series, Murder by the Millions, Allie and her pals are putting on a party featuring The Great Gatsby. When crafting the story, I thought it would be fun to have a tale featuring a mysterious stranger, like Jay Gatsby, who is building something to woo the woman he loves. To further cement the parallel, I named the new stranger Jason Gardner. Both have the initials JG. Get it? If you didn’t, that’s okay. The play on initials was for my amusement.
On another note, have you ever considered how difficult it is to create suspects who are regulars in a mystery? If you read a book in a series out of order, you might guess (when you read the previous book) that the character is innocent because they’re sticking around. So to be safe, I move them to another town or make them disappear. Which means I have to conjure up a few more “new” characters for the next book in the series. Fun!
FYI, I
tell readers that my characters are not based on real people, yet readers are
convinced some are. Okay, there might be a few. I won’t share who. Also,
readers might wonder whether the protagonists in my series are thinly veiled
versions of myself. As if. They’re young and optimistic. Okay, yes, I am
optimistic. Always have been. But I’m no longer young, and I’ve never been
as curious or as daring as they are.
In closing, here’s an amusing story. In my very first book, The Long Quiche Goodbye, which I wrote as Avery Aames, I changed a character’s name from Michael to Matthew . . . but in the final printing, Michael appeared once! Oops! Luckily, the mistake only appeared in the first edition of the book. It has subsequently been fixed. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it when I learned of the mistake, because it meant my first readers, my editor, my copy editor, and I all missed it!!!
Do you remember the characters you meet in books? Are there any that stand out? Are there character names you have loved or loathed?
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Thanks for hosting me! I love the name of your blog. :) ~ Daryl
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. My pleasure! :)
DeleteEvery character is, to some degree, an aspect of the author of the story, and that's really as it should be. After all, they come from the author's imagination, even if they are based on a real person, it's the author's ideas about and impressions of the person.
ReplyDeleteStrange names can be lots of fun, and my Sweetie went to college with a brother and sister whose last name was Furr. The sister was Catherine and everyone called her Cat, yes, Cat Furr. Her father had a weird sense of humor, and so did the family he knew whose last name was Cloud and they named their daughters Stormy and Windy.
I've often thought, looking through old phone books (if you can find some) would give a lot of ideas for names.
Well said, and that's a great idea! :)
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