{"id":5394,"date":"2021-12-31T03:59:43","date_gmt":"2021-12-31T11:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=5394"},"modified":"2021-12-31T03:59:43","modified_gmt":"2021-12-31T11:59:43","slug":"feline-friday-fun-the-art-of-naming-your-fictional-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/?p=5394","title":{"rendered":"Feline Friday Fun \u2013 The Art of Naming Your Fictional Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Do you ever have issue with the names of characters in the books or series you read? Have you ever put yourself in the author\u2019s seat and questioned why they choose the names they do? It bothers me when an author uses names for characters that are similar\u2014Annie and Angie or Robin and Raven or Bill and Will. How about Averal and Arial? I sometimes get confused when this happens in a story I\u2019m reading.<\/p>\n

Since I began writing fiction I realize it isn\u2019t always easy to name a character. I\u2019ll fairly often change a name in midstream. After writing several scenes with the name I realize it isn\u2019t working for me. If I stumble over the name, maybe others will too.<\/p>\n

I try to fit the name to the age of the person\u2014what names were being used in the era this \"\"person was born? And I try my best to keep names of people who are going to interact together different enough so as to not confuse readers. I miss sometimes, though. Pamela is Parker\u2019s long lost cousin, who I thought would be a cameo character. Turns out Pamela keeps showing up in the stories and hangs out with Parker, so and I sometimes regret using that name. But, hey, I can change it anytime I want. How about if Pamela (who is a bit quirky) decides she wants to go by her middle name? Woo-la! I can make up a new name for her.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sometimes I use names of my family members and I do that honorably. Adam, Michael\u2019s son who comes into the story as a surprise even for Michael early in the Klepto Cat Mystery series, is named for my first great-grandson. We raised a foal from my mare years ago and trained her for show. She was a wonderful mare named Peaches, so of course that\u2019s the name I gave Savannah\u2019s horse. Where Savannah\u2019s name came from, I haven\u2019t a clue, which is the case for many of the character names.<\/p>\n

I name pets according to the type of person in the story \"\"who is naming the cat or bird or whatever. A quirky character would name a pet differently than one who is a bit straight-laced. A child has different ideas for names than an adult. Sometimes the animal\u2019s name is descriptive and sometimes sort of out there. Like Rhonda the chicken. I named the Iveys\u2019 calico cat Glori after someone I met recently. I adored the name and used it for a precious \"\"cat. Glori was thrilled and I gave her a copy of the book where Glori is rescued. I\u2019m careful not give a villain the name of someone I know or I\u2019m related to\u2014just in case they take it personal.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also why I often invent place names\"\" where the stories take place. I thought if I used my city and the landmarks I\u2019m familiar with it would be too easy for someone to take offense and accuse me of defaming their business (by having an employee robbed at gunpoint or something). I could envision someone deciding I was writing about them in an episode, and I felt I should invent a place where it would be safe to make up stories and avoid stepping on toes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a peek into my thought processes and reasoning when originally planning and now writing the two cozy mystery series. If you have curiosities and questions, I\u2019d be glad to address them in this blog. You can contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you ever have issue with the names of characters in the books or series you read? Have you ever put yourself in the author\u2019s seat and questioned why they choose the names they do? It bothers me when an … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5395,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5394\/revisions\/5395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}