The second time I tried to write a novel, there was a particular building which figured prominently in the story. I knew it needed a name. All prominent building have names – the Baxter Building, the Trump Tower, the Whistle Building (this last is what my brother and I called a bank building located in Denver because of the way the top looked – even as kids we named notable buildings). I didn't have a name for this building in my story when I started writing. I was eager to get going, despite the lack, so I put "BN" in place of the building's name when the name was needed. I figured I could simply replace the "BN" for the correct name when I finally gave it a proper name.
By the time I had finished the first draft of the story, I got so used to calling this building "BN" that it didn't feel right to call it anything else.
I've decided to avoid my "BN" problem with this, my third attempt at a novel. I have named all of the major characters I have thus far before I started the story. And I'm determined to name any new characters, ships, buildings, etc. as soon as I encounter them. While "Gordon's Best Friend," "the Reluctant Dr." and "Carolyn's shuttle" might up my word count, I don't want to go through the month, or the whole first draft, thinking of those characters that way. It's bad enough to refer to my unnamed characters like that in my notes and daydreaming.
The naming process ought to be easy. I'm surrounded by names. Everyone I know has a name or three. Pets have names. There are a gazillion names in the phone book. And I keep long lists of "found" names and name combinations I like. I should just be able to choose one at random and say, "here you go, 'Reluctant Dr.,' you are now named."
Hah!
I have default names. Johnson is one of them. And surnames that start with 'M'. This doesn't make naming any easier. I don't want to have a Johnson in every story. So there probably will not be a Johnson in any story. And if my cast has too many M last names, I just have to change names because it looks too strange, almost comic book-ish.
Once, I've tried naming characters based on what the name means. I discovered that means I have to have a really good idea of who the character is to name him properly. Names make a character (and place and thing) more real to me. How do you name a still growing character after a meaning when you don't know what his meaning is yet?
It seems having a method is more difficult than going random. This time, randomness was my method.
For my NaNoWriMo cast, only three were easy. Carolyn Chesapeake was christened almost as soon as she was created. I don't know where her name came from. I don't know why it stuck with me, without my having to write it down immediately. But since the name has remained with me after all this time (she isn't a recent creation), I know the name must be right. And if it's not right for her, well, it's too late, because, like my last story's "BN", I'm never going to able to think of her as one else.
Gordon Smyth was named before I even new he existed. I heard Carolyn talking to him, and trying out her name with his surname and her surname with his added as a hyphen. They're engaged. Looking at it now, I think I would have named him differently, at least have gotten rid of the 'y'. But it won't happen during NaNoWriMo, I can see too many opportunities to up my word count a little by having Carolyn and Gordon constantly have to explain he's a "Smith with a 'y'."
Frank Delaware was the only whose name came completely from my name collection. It sounded commanderish, which Frank is.
Everyone else didn't get fully named until last week. Fredericka Marlys, Garrett Menkin, and Ethan Porter Rolloston all got their surnames thanks to a book of ghost stories I was reading. I was in need of names and those popped out at me. I ran through first names at random until I found something that clicked. Here's what a "clicked" sounds like: I put Fredericka with Marlys and suddenly I found out that few people call her anything other than Marlys, only her mother uses her first name, otherwise it's Ricka. Except for Gordon, her best friend, who calls her Fred because he knows it irritates her.
Ethan was Ethan first, then I found a last name that seemed to fit, and he became Ethan Porter for a while. Then I got to looking at the names I had - Porter, Smyth, Chesapeake, and Delaware. The collection seemed... I don't know. Too regional? Something about them felt too much the same. I thought there should be more of a mix. I found the name Rolleson in the same book of ghost stories, and then promptly misspelled it. Hence Rolloston. And I couldn't give up the Porter, because I was too used to calling him that, and besides I think it rings nicely with Ethan. So, now I've got a character with two last names who is starting to sound more and more English to me.
Dr. Larua got her name because I can't spell "Laura" correctly the first time without major slowing down. I'm hoping using the misspelling will get any further misspellings out of my system – or that I will start misspelling Larua into Laura…
And finally, of the cast I know about, is Verbinski. I found the name yesterday on a Web site. Don't remember what Web site. I liked the way Verbinski sounded, and I would have added it to my name collection, if I hadn't found a use for it here. See, Verbinski looks like a name given to someone who is verbose, or is action driven. And the pilot I've given this name to is both. Every time I hear him I want to cover my mental ears, because he is loud, and has an irritating habit of giving everyone nicknames.
The ship, the Phoenix, is the only one "character" I named according to meaning and myth. I was originally going to call her the Icarus. Until I realized that any of her crew with any education in Greek mythology, would not step foot onto a starship that actually goes into a star. According to the myth, Icarus flew too close to the sun and melted his wings, and he plummeted back to the Earth, to his demise. And while a phoenix comes to an equally bad ending, at least there is hope of a rebirth from that ending.
As much as I've gotten used to the Phoenix, Frank Delaware and Carolyn Chesapeake and Ethan Porter Rolloston, et al, I know none of their names are written in stone (Thank god! My fingers hurt enough with just pen and paper and keyboard…). Works in progress are subject to change at any time without notice. I wonder how many of them, and their names, will make it into the final draft?
