By Linda Lovely
I’d say my problem is due to my age, but I’d be lying.
I’ve always had a hard time remembering people’s names. I’m introduced and five
seconds later, I’m asking myself: “Is his name really Harold?”
When I start reading a book, the same thing happens. It
takes a while for me to “know” characters on a first-name basis not to mention their
roles in the story. That means I’m not fond of authors who insist on giving
their characters similar names. It confuses me.
There are 26 letters in the alphabet, so why on earth
would an author choose to name several of the main characters with first names
starting with say “D.” Dan…Don…Donna…Deb…Dora…Dennis…and the list goes on. The
same is true with last names. Does the author really need to have characters
with Webb and Webster as last names? Of course, people writing historical
fiction have an excuse but fiction writers do not.
And it’s not just the first letters of a name that can
throw me—and other readers. Belatedly, I sympathize with my mother. When I was
a teen and dating two young men with similar sounding names, she invariably
called Don by the name Ron and vice versa.
So how can an author avoid this pitfall? My solution is a
sortable Excel spreadsheet for each book’s cast of characters. Here are the headings
for the columns:
First Name…Last Name…Age….Eye Color…Hair Color…Height…
Build…Profession…Distinguishing Features…Role in Book.
If I’m creating the spreadsheet for additional books in a
series, I have two more column headers “Dead” and “In Jail.” That’s so I don’t
suddenly bring a character who died in a prior book back to life or fail to
give “jail” as an iron-tight alibi for someone who was sentenced to life with
no parole in book two.
The spreadsheet lets me sort characters by first name or
last name to see if I’ve accidentally fallen in love with a certain letter
while I’m in the process of character introduction. Of course, the spreadsheet
also serves as a cheat sheet I can reference—especially in a series—to make
certain I don’t give a grown woman an inexplicable change in build or a man a
new eye color without any mention of plastic surgery or contact lenses.
I also try to make certain the names I pick are
appropriate given a character’s age. A seventy-year-old named Linda is quite
believable. A seven-year-old named Linda in a contemporary book would be a
fluke. There are dozens of websites you can check for the most popular names
given to babies in each year as well as popular names among people who have
different cultural heritages from Irish to Japanese.
I also avoid some names for “good” characters because
I’ve personally disliked someone by that name. It makes no sense, but, hey, the
characters are in my book, I can name them as I please.
Are there names you love or hate? Does it color your ability to relate to a character?
Linda Lovely is the author of eight published mystery/suspense novels. Her latest book, BAD PICK, is the third book in the humorous cozy Brie Hooker Mystery Series.
