Now that I am dabbling in the area of novel-writing, I can understand a bit about why authors change the names of their characters. Sometimes it takes a while to settle on a name that fits the character\u2019s personality and that doesn\u2019t conflict with other names you use throughout your story.<\/p>\n
Sometimes you decide to change the name right away and sometimes it takes a while before you realize the name isn\u2019t working. When you change a character\u2019s name, always, always do a search to find all instances of the original name so you make the change in all places.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t tell you how many novel manuscripts I see that have a random name or two tucked in here or there. In chapter twelve, I might come across a new-to-me name and wonder, \u201cWho is that?\u201d Come to find out, it was the name the author originally used for one of the characters.<\/p>\n
Another name-related mistake I see is using the same name for two different characters. If the jail warden is Sam Jenkins, it can get confusing if you give a main character\u2019s next door neighbor the name Mrs. Jenkins. And you want to avoid using the same given name for two characters unless there is a reason. <\/p>\n
If you have changed names of individuals or place names, pet names, store names, etc. in the process of writing your novel, be sure to use the \u201cfind and replace\u201d feature in your word processing program to make sure you have not left a reference to \u201cPatsy\u201d when her name is now \u201cGwen,\u201d for example. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Now that I am dabbling in the area of novel-writing, I can understand a bit about why authors change the names of their characters. Sometimes it takes a while to settle on a name that fits the character\u2019s personality and that doesn\u2019t conflict with other names you use throughout your story. Sometimes you decide to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t