<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve got a problem. Just the one I hear you cry? Well yes, just the one at present.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m currently editing a novella soon to be published by E-Scape Press and am changing the names of some of the characters. I can\u2019t come up with a name for my second male \u2018lead\u2019. I prefer one-syllable names for my men \u2013 Mark sounds strong and masculine but I can\u2019t imagine a sexy hero would get far with a name like Leslie. And Tim is a lovely name \u2013 but a bit too nice. And yes, I know I\u2019m at risk of offending an awful lot of people here! The trouble is, all the names I think of, I want to keep for a future alpha male character \u2013 Mike, Jem, Jon. You can see my dilemma. Ah \u2013 the names Richard Armitage and John Thornton \u2013 what images they conjure!<\/p>\n
When I write, I try to choose names that say something about their personality, age or background. So, an elderly woman may be called Iris or Daphne, whereas a small child might be Jack or Sophie. Sometimes I even flirt with indicating class. What do the names Hugo and Wayne say about the owners? But, I\u2019ve got a horrible feeling that makes me a snob!<\/p>\n
The name you give your character is a short cut to revealing something about the person you write about. Names can even hint about where your character comes from. Helga could be German or Scandinavian, whereas Jyhoti might be Asian. And a Chuck could surely only come from the States \u2013 and a sports jock at that.<\/p>\n
And names can be anachronistic too \u2013 you couldn\u2019t have a Regency heroine called Tracy \u2013 or could you?<\/p>\n
I have a problem with the names of houses too. I couldn\u2019t live in a house called Shangri-La or Bimini, whereas Summer Cottage evokes all sorts of different possibilities.<\/p>\n
So, while I content myself with the thought that I am unredeemably shallow and a snob to boot, can I ask for suggestions for my secondary male? At the moment he\u2019s called Rupert. Posh and nice \u2013 or in danger of being thought a little yellow bear?!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve got a problem. Just the one I hear you cry? Well yes, just the one at present. I\u2019m currently editing a novella soon to be published by E-Scape Press and am changing the names of some of the characters. I can\u2019t come up with a name for my second male \u2018lead\u2019. I prefer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[79,90,89,12,91],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-e-scape-press","tag-john-thornton","tag-names","tag-richard-armitage","tag-rupert-the-bear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1672,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/1672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgiahill.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}