Message Board Topic 2/8

[Comsie]

Joey, Josh, Billy, Timothy, Dillon, Brad, Eric, Tony, and Bob! What's in a name, right? Hehehe!

 

When you're reading these stories, or writing your own...exactly how important is the 'name game'? I mean do you associate certain names with being 'cute'? Do certain ones give you a feeling of threat or menace? Do certain character names sound better together than others? I mean...even though it's mostly the actual story telling that's telling the story...can a character's name hold a certain 'feel' to it that enhances the experience for anyone who reads it? Do difficult or hard to pronounce names become distracting? Do plain or overly common names become boring or unoriginal? Or does it matter at all? Let us know what you think on this when you get a chance! Cool?

[Mark Arbour]

Well, I have a different challenge because most of the stories I write are historical in some way. That can tie my hands a bit. One way I drum up names for them is to go to sites like the SSA. Works for contemporary stories too. I'll start by figuring out which year the character was born in, then go browse through the names of that year for inspiration.

 

On a more personal level, there are names that resonate because of people that I've known in the past that I've liked or disliked. Sometimes TV will influence that too. There was a kid named "Scott" that I hated in elementary school, then SouthPark did their episode on Canada ("Scott's a dick") and that sort of solidified it for me.

 

If you go with unique, I think that's cool, but it has to be relatively easy to say. It bugs the shit out of me to read a story and someone's put a name in there that I can't pronounce. I think if an author does that, they need to include a scene where the character has to explain how to pronounce it, like having a teacher stumble over it during roll call.

[Nephylim]

What's in a name? Everything for me. I just can't realate to a character who has a crap name. And no, I won't give examples in case anyone has written them into their stories and gets offended.

 

I ALWAYS use names I like for charactes I like although I might dip into the realm of the dismal for villains or peripherals. Although I think so far that I have actually used liked names for everyone.

[tejdog1]

I've made up a TON of names for my story (Tej and Jeff), but the one who really ended up meaning alot more then he was intended to is someone named Jackson Davis.

 

 

 

 

 

HUGE SPOILER ALERT for anyone who's going to/plans on/is reading my story:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jackson was intended to be a supporting character, and while he's remained there, he's become T&J's best friend, and they're so tight, that Jackson chose to lose his virginity as part of a 3 way with Tej and Jeff, shortly before Tej moves away from his boyfriend. They share a bond that goes beyond friendship, beyond brotherhood, and almost to the point of a tri-relationship. He kind of took on a life of his own as I kept writing, and hell, I fell in love with him, myself. There was a short time I actually considered changing the whole plot of the story around just to keep Tej close to Jeff and Jackson, but in the end decided not to.

 

 

[Graeme]

My goal with names is generally twofold.

 

One -- try to make sure all the major and most of the minor characters have names starting with different letters and to make them distinct. When names are too similar, it can cause confusion. If that's part of the story, then okay, but most of the time that's not intended and if a reader has to try to work out who is who, it can be distracting. eg. Mary/Maria. Bob/Bobbie/Robbie/Rob.

 

Two -- try to use fairly common names for most characters, but with a sprinkling of less common names. This is because I like to reflect what I see as a reality. There are a lot of Chris's, John's, Mark's, etc., around, and not as many Jai's, Ty's, Bartholomew's, etc. (at least around here). The latter do exist, though, and there should be some names like that in the stories.

 

As a personal dislike, I try to avoid 'cute' names. Some names I think are over done (from my perspective, though I recognise that some names are very regional, such as Graeme -- known and moderately common in Australia and the UK and largely unknown in the USA). As an example every character called Tyler or Kyle I've ever read has turned out to be gay. I'm yet to meet a Tyler in real life, and I haven't met a Kyle though I know a friend in the USA who knows a Kyle (who turned out to be gay -- something not known when I first started chatting with that friend). It's almost like the authors are trying to signal that a character is gay by using a cutesie name.

[JamesSavik]

Mike, Joey, Doug, Tom, Jeff and Bill and Brad are all fine.

 

Wait until your try to spell Sebastian, Eugene or Tristan eight hundred times.

 

Besides- don't they sound like people that you would shake down for their lunch money? I know I sure would.

 

*Smack* Why do you hurt me? Because I can't spell your friggin' name!

 

You've never, ever heard of a bad ass named Eugene.

[Mark Arbour]

Mike, Joey, Doug, Tom, Jeff and Bill and Brad are all fine.

 

Wait until your try to spell Sebastian, Eugene or Tristan eight hundred times.

 

Besides- don't they sound like people that you would shake down for their lunch money? I know I sure would.

 

*Smack* Why do you hurt me? Because I can't spell your friggin' name!

 

You've never, ever heard of a bad ass named Eugene.

 

 

And please, don't go spelling them differently just to get cute. Just because you take they "y" out of "boy" to make "boi" doesn't mean you have to put it back into someone's name. We don't need: Jym, Byll, Byff, Tym, etc.

[Nephylim]

Mike, Joey, Doug, Tom, Jeff and Bill and Brad are all fine.

 

Wait until your try to spell Sebastian, Eugene or Tristan eight hundred times.

 

Besides- don't they sound like people that you would shake down for their lunch money? I know I sure would.

 

*Smack* Why do you hurt me? Because I can't spell your friggin' name!

 

You've never, ever heard of a bad ass named Eugene.

 

 

Awww I had a Sebastian and I was really fond of him... he was a sweetheart. I did call him Bas through most of the story though

[Comicality]

I have to admit to REALLY taking my time to figure out the names of my characters before I even start writing a story. Especially when it comes to the love interest. I definitely want it to sound cute to everybody reading. So it's usually the name I try to figure out first Then I try to find a name for the main character, that sounds like a 'cute couple' name. Hehehe, :: Blush :: Yes....I definitely do that. I try to make the names compatible somehow. 'Ryan and Randy', 'Ethan and Drew', Derrick and Tanner', 'Gavin and Josh', etc. I don't know why certain names sound like they go better together than others, but I do go through an entire process of trying to make them match.

 

I try to avoid names that are TOO cutsie (and obviously so) if I can. Although, with "Gone From Daylight" and "Savage Moon", I do try to come up with names that are a bit out of the ordinary and exotic to a certain degree. Simply because I want them to stand out as being a bit 'above' the average human boy. (Funny thing...I actually played around with 'Taryn's' name for a while, trying to make something up. And he was named 'Torin' for a while until 'Taryn' came along. I thought I had just made it up...but it turns out that Tayn is a real name. Irish, I believe. Which was cool!)

 

And hard to pronounce names? I try really hard to avoid those. Because when you're reading, even in your head, they're distracting!!! Like, ARRRRGH!!! It's a stumbling block. I've given upon stories with hard to pronounce names before. It's just a hassle to read.

 

So yes, in my opinion, names definitely matter. At least to me, they do

[tejdog1]

Now that you mention it, lol.

 

Sam and Tyler

Jordan and Brian

 

Two older gay couples who mentor Tej and Jeff in my story. Never thought about it before, but those names definitely fit eachother!

[AdrianBlack]

I always try to find some meaning for my characters. Like I chose names that define their characters somehow. You could look up every name in my stories and find a special meaning.

 

So... names are really important... and of course have to sound nice, hehe

[Nephylim]

That's awesome. I am far too lazy to do that. I just pick names I like

[Comicality]

That's a really cool idea, Adrian! The only two times I tried that were for the "Red October" vampire updates. The first one, (For "GFD: Killjoy") I spent a long time looking up Native American names that had a meaning that would fit a champion fighter at on of the arenas in town. However I changed it at the last minute. (don't remember why, because the name was really swet). And the second one was for "GFD: Dead Language", where the boy's name was 'Shiloh', which meant 'gift'. I specifically wanted something with that kind of meaning and feel to it.

 

Other than that, I'm too lazy too! Hehehe!