Reasons & Realities 19

What’s in a Name

     A rose of any other name smell just as sweet or will burn the nose hairs off your smeller in an instant.

To use a much simpler way of looking at this subject is by asking yourself are the names you choose for your characters is important? Can I get a Heck Yeah! That sounds a bit of a middle of the road. Let’s try that again. Can I get a Hell Yeah! Now ask yourself can a single word make a difference. Of course it can and so does your character’s names in your stories. There are several factors when it comes down to choosing names and even that is drilled down to two and sometimes more layers under that one. The first place to look at is the type of story you are writing. Let’s say you are writing (other than none-fiction) epic fantasy, contemporary, and Sci-Fi to use as a starting point. Let’s then go down that extra layer and say; good, bad, neutral. As you can see that can go even further with person, place, thing, and animal. Let’s look at the overall types of writing you are doing and then lightly touch the next lower level just to see how important a name really is by starting with epic fantasy.

Epic Fantasy
     You would think that this genre would have a built in listing you can draw in for names for your characters and you would be absolutely right. Other than using names from the past (without physical descriptions or accomplishments to avoid copyright and plagiarism), what is mostly safe is to use the characters attribute as a base for their name. Here are a few examples.
     Good names can be; King Justin the Just, Queen Patience the Wise, Prince Purest the Kind, Princess Nightingale the Pure, and Knight Champion Sir Worthy the Fearless. Bad names can be; King Hardstone the Heartless, Queen Cerulean the Cruel , Prince Tyrant the Tormenter, Princess Barren the Brutal, Knight Sir Merciless the Impeller. Neutral names can be; King John, Queen Joan, Prince Jonathan, Princess Jennifer, and Knight Sir Jonah. Now, let’s take a look at Contemporary Characters’ names.

Contemporary
Names in this category are a smorgasbord of possibilities, especially when you look at the names that were typical to the particular usage at or around the time period of your story. Unlike Epic Fantasy as we had just looked at or Sci-Fi which will bring this Reasons & Reality to a close, contemporary names can be as lighthearted or dramatic as you wish your characters to be. Take these for instance. Good names can be; Parsifal, Charlotte, Aaron, Zander, Ben, and Charles. Bad names can be, Raymond, Baron, Brinton, Chip, Corolla, Bethany, and Stewart. Neutral names can be Steven, Blanch, Nicolas, Ronald, and Walter. Once again, depending on what time period or style of writing, name calling can be a lot of fun and can hurt, help, and have a happy ending. It’s time to look at one of my favorites, Sci-Fi.

Sci-Fi
     It’s finally time to color way outside of the lines on this one. Let yourself travel to some far away galaxy where the impossible is possible and meet, eat, and play with your most memorable daydream or frighten yourself silly with your darkest nightmares. This is one category where good can be bad and bad is sometimes better, and no one is truly neutral. Sorry boys and girls, but there is no rules, hints, or points of origin or destinations with this journey. I’m sure you aren’t asking why? The answer to that question is that you haven’t thought of one yet. Oh, you can use some of the classics to call items like you talk to someone on a communicator or travel in a transport or ship, and even dine on substance, but as far as naming your characters, you are on your own with this one baby. And, if you truly think about it that is the place where all the fun lies. Come on people! The only rules are that there are no rules. Sci-Fi is that five year old kids playground in your mind where you can put on a gravity suit for the first time after you had passed your flying class to go on your first date and you are nervous about getting that kiss you were promised at ten-thousand feet and hope it is as great as your parents had described it to be. It’s a place where you put on your breathing mask and four hour moisture resistance spray that smell like lemons happily because your school's field trip is under the sea to look at plants and wildlife. Sci-Fi was, is, and will always be the one genre where you are the past, present, and future, so deal with it.

     As you can see, there is a method to the madness that is used. However, quite a bit of it is coloring within the lines and is only a suggestion of something that is preexisting. Conformity is comforting, but at times can become a crutch and stifle the imagination. Get creative, create the new normal, and remember that normal is overrated. I and the world can’t wait to meet your friends, enemies, heroes, villains, geniuses, and fools you bring to our attention in the worlds you create or recreate to entertain us. Have fun making new friend. SD

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