Naming Names

When writing a story, you not only have to come up with characters, but you have to name them, otherwise it might be a little difficult to figure out who is who. I'm obviously stating the obvious (or is that I'm literally stating the obvious?). Okay, enough silliness. The point is, how do you give your characters their names? There is no right or wrong way, but here is how I handle the naming issue. 

When I was writing my 3 novels about my family (short plug, you can find them here > https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00U0KSQCO), I didn’t want to use their real names, especially for those people still living. Now I did use the real names of those family members from the 1800s, as I didn’t think they would mind. But starting with those family members born in the late 1800s and beyond, I did decide to rename their first names.

I started out by making a list of female and male names. I wrote down anything I could think of, even names I didn’t particularly like. That turned out to work out well because I used the names I didn’t like for those people in the stories I didn’t like. If you read the books, especially A Life Unplanned, you probably will be able to figure out which names I don’t like. I also researched popular names from the early 1900s and added those to my list, if they weren’t already included, and did that for the various decades. If I heard a name on TV or even in reading other books, I jotted those down as well.

As I would use a name, I crossed it off the list to make sure I wouldn't use it again. There were times when I changed a name, simply because, as I would get further into the story, I would sometimes find another name fit the character better. If you do that, you just have to remember to go back and change it throughout the story. I did actually read a book once where the author accidentally called a character by another character’s name. I had to re-read the paragraph a couple of times to realize what had happened, but it didn’t take away from the story at all. It’s nice to know that even the best of authors make mistakes.

The series that I'm currently writing is not about my family. It’s a completely made up story that I do hope to turn into 4 or 5 books. I have to determine both first and last names, especially since I hope to make this set of stories take place over many, many years. Unfortunately, my husband and I have lost a handful of friends who died long before their time, most due to illness and one through a traffic accident. As a tribute to them, I'm using their last names. Thankfully it’s not a long list, but that helped with figuring out a few characters. Otherwise, I'm going through the same process of making long lists of last names and going from there.

To get back a little on my first set of novels, I wrote an older post about the fact I mostly didn’t use the real names of my family, even though the stories are based on real events. If you should write a book or series of books about your family but wanting to change the names, it would be a good idea to include a table of contents of your characters, perhaps not in the published books, as then there would be no point in making up names. But for your future family members who might read about your family, keep several copies for yourself to make sure they will get passed down and insert the TOC in each of the books so that future generations will know each character from their real life. If you look over some of my older posts, you will find I created a picture history of my family, the post titled A Family Project, and I included my TOC there as well. I made a copy for myself and my brother and sister. It’s a great way to bring the characters in your memoir to life by including their pictures as much as you can. That project took me over a year to complete, but I'm so glad I did it. You can also read excerpts from all my books, and those are all labeled on the right side of my blog. If you haven't read my books, you can take a peek at what the stories are all about.  That just might get you started on finding out about your own family history. It’s truly a life-changing experience.

I hope my “naming names” was of some help if you plan to create some new characters of your own or maybe take a look at the ones you already know. Keep reading, keep writing, and enjoy the journey.  

The Light of a Home

As I'm working on my next novel, my hope is that this is going to be a series based on the women of the family. The home where they live, or have lived in the past, is one that was built by the main character’s (Maggie) great great grandfather in 1858. I wanted to describe the house and how it changes over the years, but also how important it is to Maggie that the house stay in the family.

I had to think a little bit on how I wanted the house to look. It’s always said that you should write what you know, although if you love to research, more than likely you can write about anything, right? In any event, it came to me to combine my mom and dad’s childhood homes. I spent a lot of time in both, although a lot more time in my maternal grandparents’ house. Maybe that’s why I do remember every nook and cranny of that house and not a lot of details of my dad’s place.

As I was jotting down some notes for each of the houses, it dawned on me there was a major difference between the two, and for me it reflected on the sense or feel of both and the people who lived in them. If you have read my books, then you know about what happened within each family. I won't go into a lot of that detail here.

My mom’s place was small, although it seemed like a mansion to me when I was growing up.  My grandma would be baking something on a Saturday because, of course, that was baking day. My grandpa and I would walk up to the fire house where he would trade paperbacks with the firemen and they would let me sit in the truck while the guys would talk. My aunt would play board games with me at the dining room table, or I would climb the apple tree in the backyard. The house was so full of light. Large windows in every room, light colors on the walls. Grandma Mae had spring/summer and fall/winter curtains—light and airy in the warm months to let in the summer air, and darker, heavier curtains in the winter to keep out the cold. We would often sit on the front porch after supper and watch the cars go by and Grandpa and I would sing Let Me Call You Sweetheart or Ka-Ka-Katie over and over again while cuddled up on his lap.

Now my father’s house was quite the opposite. It was very dark. The first thing you would see when walking in the front door was a huge black velvet painting of Adam and Eve fleeing the Garden of Eden. The furniture, the walls, the flooring were all dark. There was a sunroom off the living room, but I don’t recall anyone ever using it when I was there. I also don’t ever remember baking going on in the kitchen or singing with my paternal grandpa. The house did not have a front porch, just a small stoop.

Again, if you have read my family stories, then you know my dad’s family was not one with a lot of love, or at the least, you would have to look hard to find it in that dark house. Mom’s house was definitely an “out loud” kind of love. Not that we went around saying “I love you” all the time. But there were always hugs, kisses, singing, and baking in that house.

I find it fascinating that the house full of light also had love so easy to find. Yet the dark house was quiet with perhaps love hiding in the corners, but you didn’t see it much.

Now I'm not saying that every single house that’s dark is a house without love, but that was simply the experience in my life. There have been 6 homes that were a major part of my life—my grandparents’ homes, the house I grew up in, and the 3 homes I have shared with my husband in Ohio, Idaho, and Nevada. Five were open and light, one was closed and dark.  We will be moving again once Joe retires to a new town and probably a new state. I don’t know where that will be, but what I do know is that the house will be light and full of that out loud kind of love.

Thanks for stopping by. Keep reading, keep writing, and always enjoy your day.