 Mystery: January 14, 2015 Issue [#6764] |
  Mystery
This week: What's in a Name? Edited by: Jeff  
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"The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense
of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery."
-- Anaïs Nin
Mystery Trivia of the Week: Acclaimed author Laurie R. King won an Edgar and a John Creasey Memorial Award for her first novel. She then subsequently won a Nero Award, a Macavity Award, and a Lambda Award, and has been nominated for an Agatha, two Anthonys, a Barry, two additional Edgars, another Macavity, and an Orange Prize along the way. Her books include the Kate Martinelli series about a lesbian police officer in San Francisco, and the Mary Russell series whose title character has Sherlock Holmes as a mentor and later partner.
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WHAT'S IN A NAME?
I'll be honest; one of the biggest impediments to me starting a story is figuring out what my characters' names are. I have writer friends who can just crank them out and go, "Okay, his name's Bob and her name's Margaret and the detective's name is Jones" ... and so on. There are a couple reasons why I can't ever seem to bring myself to approach naming characters that way. First, I think it's boring. The world has enough stories with characters bearing the first name to pop into the writer's head. Second, and more importantly, I think I owe it to my characters to create distinctive names that match their backgrounds and personalities.
There are a couple of different ways I go about researching character names:
 I own several baby name books that list names and their meanings.
I use Behind the Name which includes lists of names by ethnicity or nationality.
I reference the Social Security Administration's website to determine the popularity of a name.
I do a web search to make sure I haven't accidentally taken the name of someone famous.
If I'm taking the time to write a story (even if it's just flash fiction), those characters deserve to have a well thought-out name just as much as they deserve to have interesting character traits and a compelling narrative. More than that, though, I think character names also provide us with the opportunity to showcase the diversity of the world around us. There are so many different kinds of names and nationalities and backgrounds, how can writers be satisfied with using the same generic names over and over again?
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the United States is racially divided as follows:
White (Not Hispanic or Latino) Alone - 62.6%
Hispanic or Latino Alone - 17.1%
Black or African American Alone - 13.2%
Asian Alone - 5.3%
Other - 1.8%
What this data tells us is that nearly two out of every ten people in this country is of Hispanic or Latino heritage. Out of every twenty people in this country, three of them are statistically African American. One additional would be Asian. If you add all the non-white races together, nearly two out of every five people in this country are of a cultural background that's something other than white. And that's not even counting the increasing number of people who identify themselves as multiethnic or multicultural.
Yet the majority of names in stories are ones we typically consider "white" names. I don't have any statistical data to back this up, but I can't recall seeing too many stories with characters named Jose (#31 most popular male name of the 2000s in the U.S.), Juan (#57), Luis (#59), or Carlos (#68). Similarly, even though the most popular names in the world have strong cultural roots outside the U.S. like Mohamed (Muslim), Aarav (Indian), and Wei (China), they very rarely pop up as given names in our fiction. Just to give you an idea of how popular these names are, there have been nearly 575,000 children born and named Wei since 2007, which is roughly equivalent to all the Johns, Michaels, and Davids born in the United States during that same time period combined.
And as a final argument in favor of interesting names, consider some of the most enduring fictional characters and consider if they'd be as memorable if they had been given generic names. Obviously some of their character traits and the writing in many of these classics would still shine through, but would ...
... Sherlock Holmes be as memorable if he were Michael Holmes?
... Hannibal Lecter be remembered as vividly if he were James Lecter?
... Scarlett O'Hara be as iconic if she were Elizabeth O'Hara?
... Lolita be as enduring if she had simply been called Meg?
... Ichabod Crane be as well-recalled if he were Robert Crane?
There is a caveat to naming strategies, which is that "unusual" is not always better. There should be a story behind why your character has a particular name, and that story can inform the background and even the personality of the character him or herself in some cases. But choosing an odd name "just because" is often just as damaging as picking a generic name because it has the potential to feel like an article of clothing that just doesn't quite fit right, nagging the audience throughout the entire story. This is especially true in fantasy and sci-fi settings, where many characters can come from a place other than the Earth we know. In our attempts to come up with usual names, it's worthwhile to do a little research and get a few extra opinions to make sure your character name sounds good before you saddle a character with it for an entire story.
Names are an important part of a character's identity. Unless we're talking about primarily minor or insignificant characters, you should take the time to find a name that fits your character well. Consider doing a little research and challenging yourself to create character names that give more depth and possibility than the first ones that come to mind. In a story I'm currently writing, for example, there are two main female characters, and I named them Savannah and Ishiko... the former was named after her father's favorite city in the world, and the latter was named because I wanted Savannah's friend and roommate to be someone of a different ethnicity and I chose something Japanese. Once I knew that Savannah was the daughter of a now-Texan who missed living in the Deep South and that Ishiko was from a traditional family back in Japan, it opened a world of story and character possibilities that wouldn't have even occurred to me if I had gone with the first names that came to mind (which were Jen and Beth, by the way).
Give your characters names that really have the potential to tell you a little about who they are. When you're writing, there are so many different ways for you to convey character details; why not take the time to make sure the character's name is one of them?
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
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I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
EXCERPT: Sylvia’s eyes sparkled with intensity as she devoured every word of the accompanying email. Full research notes, subject statuses, short- and long-term studies over almost 30 years and compound formulae with conclusive evidence from every conceivable angle. It truly was everything comrade Dimitru Jamik at the Research Facility Headquarters had promised – and more. Of course she had accepted the “Read Receipt” that was standard on highly classified and encrypted material such as this - and she never really gave it a second thought. As she punched open the attachments and study papers within the email, another process was already underway.
EXCERPT: Jamil was very fond of chili. Either a raw green chili or dried red chili powder accompanied all his edibles. He always carried a small package of red chili powder in his waist-pouch, so that he would not miss his favorite while having lunch at the roadside hotels. "Why so much of spices all the time?" His other colleagues used to wonder. He was was about twenty eight, and earned his living by driving the cycle-rickshaw, one of the most common modes of transport in Bangladesh. His thin, oily hair was always neatly brushed. A pair of bright, brown eyes in the dark, sun-burnt face, reflected confidence. Though his daily income was not much, yet, poverty never snatched away his content smile. He lived in a roadside slum with five to seven people in one room.
EXCERPT: But what stood out the most to the Elven girl about this strange, young lady was that she had the eyes, tail, ears and claws of a cat but every other feature about her was completely human. ‘A half-breed?’ the child thought to herself. She had never encountered such a unique person like this before. The young woman kneeled down to the Elven child's level before speaking again. “My name is Sierra. What's yours?” The young girl looked down at her cat -which mewed at her as if to offer reassurance- then back up at Sierra. “My name’s Lavigne and this is, Kiya.” she answered.
EXCERPT: I let the room key fall into my hand and shuffled the bags back onto my shoulder. After checking the room number I trudged on up a set of stairs. I could still hear the distant sound of rain pelting the windows. I wondered how long it could possibly keep up, but reminded myself that I was probably better off having stopped for the night. I had been so glad to find this little establishment online from the road, and considered myself lucky that there had been a vacancy. The website I'd used while hanging outside the McDonald's in my car had posted that the next closest place was another twenty miles.
EXCERPT: Ebeny had found it last night: the forbidden book. Now it was a matter of luck- if she would get caught. She inched towards the doorway, her curiosity getting the best of her. The whole time, she couldn’t stop thinking about what Mr. Linden had warned her about, “Beware… You will be sorry…” Ebeny’s hand slid as her sweaty palm turned the doorknob, her heart pounding. It was a chilly morning and her mother was mysteriously away.
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Feedback from my last newsletter about magic and other criminal enterprises:
Tornado Dodger  writes: "Great article Jeff! I love it when you take real life experiences and turn them into writing lessons for everyone.  I really enjoyed this article and the stories you highlighted. Keep up the great work!"
Thanks, Brooke! The Magic Castle was an awesome experience, so I couldn't not write an editorial about it. 
DB Cooper  writes: "What do Andy Groves , Joseph Pulitzer 1, and Harry Houdini have in common? All three come from a Hungarian Jewish background."
I knew that Houdini had a Hungarian/Jewish background, but I had no idea about the other two. Thanks for the cool trivia! 
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