My editor sent me notes this week on the next book in my series and one of the comments made me laugh out loud.
I had used four different names for the same character in the MS and he suggested that I pick one and stick with it.
The funniest thing was, this is not a new character — she actually appears in an earlier book!
Names can be my downfall. Words, coherent sentences, spelling, syntax, plot, dialogue and endings also give me trouble.
I forget character names so easily. I have to write them down on Post-It notes as I go along, just to keep me right. Then, of course, I lose the Post-It note.
Writers have to keep track of a lot of different things. Names, back stories, time lines, whether there is a character with one leg called George (I forget what the other leg is called). I suppose there are apps that can help but I shun the appliance of technology. Until I use it, of course, then I wonder why on earth I was doing all that shunning.
Even coming up with names is difficult, well at least for me. It's easy to devise a character called Jehosephat McGillicuddy. Outlandish names are simple — it’s those that are both memorable and yet everyday that can be problematic.
Whenever I introduce a new character sometimes their names come to me instantly, more often than not I can be found scanning the spines of the books on my shelves to see if anything sparks.
As for forgetting names, this mild form of anomic aphasia extends to real life. I have often carried on complete conversations with someone who clearly knows my name but for the life of me I can't recall theirs!
There is no serious root to this — I hope not anyway. I think it is quite common. With me it is genuinely just a vagueness, even perhaps a lack of attention, caused by having a mind filled with so much nonsense that something has to go to make room for just how many times has Steven Spielberg worked with composer John Williams (I count 28, but there were also two episodes of TV’s Amazing Stories on which they collaborated).
Obviously, I'm not talking about people I know well. The names I forget are people I have perhaps met only one or twice, which I think is perfectly normal.
But to forget the names of people you have created and have spent at least part of however long it takes write a novel is ridiculous and I must do better.
Not losing those Post-It notes might be a start.
Simplify your life, Douglas. Forget naming legs. Stick with people.
ReplyDeleteMaybe create a cast of characters list for each book? Some mystery authors actually include these in the book. Especially when I'm new to a series, I find the list very helpful to keep everyone straight.
ReplyDeleteIn my first historical novel I accidentally named an unsavory character the same as the son of one of my husband's best customers. Boy, were they steamed. Eventually they came back to shipping their cattle with my husband's truck line. But it took a while.
ReplyDeleteI have a running master list and with each new mystery I add any new names and just look up the old ones. For instance, their family doctor is the same in every book. Ditto the newspaper editor. Even though these are minor characters I don't have to reinvent them every time.
All good suggestions (especially not naming legs). And yes, keeping a log of the names used is something I should do. Charlotte's comment is interesting because I realised this morning that I have used the name of someone I know in the current project. I am heading in now to change it!
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