Often in stories, the protagonist has a support system (unless your novel takes place on a deserted island and the protagonist is the lone survivor of a terrible plane crash, in which case a volleyball named Wilson will just have to do). These characters can take the form of friends, family, coworkers, roommates, or any other number of relationships, but often they fulfill the role of the sidekick.
Every character needs a memorable name. Your character could have the most interesting personality, the most incredible predicament, and could be forgotten if his name is Bob Smith. You need the perfect mixture of unique and believable.
No ideas? That’s okay. Here are five ways to pick out the perfect name.
If you want to learn how to be a super hero, you need an alter ego, but alter egos are everywhere, not just among those with super powers. The protagonist in your novel, whether super or not so much, can have an alter ego, too. In fact, alter egos are a great characterization strategy.
One of my roommates and I started watching Downton Abbey last week, and within four evenings had finished the first two seasons and are almost all caught up. It’s a really engrossing show, for those of you who haven’t seen it, and Maggie Smith is a treasure (and a Golden Globe winner).
However, between the two of us, we were able to predict a fair number of the plot twists. It’s no fault of Downton’s writers, to be sure. When you consume pop culture, whether it be in the form of books, TV, music, or film, you’re bound to catch on to patterns in the storytelling.
I have to credit Joe with suggesting the idea, just in time for writers plowing through NaNoWriMo. Seriously, it’s November 9, already. Have you hit a creativity wall yet?
Yes? Here’s a crazy idea: Adoption.
This weekend, a friend of mine invited me to brunch at her house with her roommates and some other folks. We had crepes, and they were delicious (I would recommend everyone make them at their own brunches). We ended up spending a good chunk of the afternoon discussing cards from this Table Topics deck. Most of the questions were terrible conversation starters (“How would you go about ending homelessness?” Really?). But we found one that dealt with movies, and someone mentioned the Toy Story trilogy, which immediately sent all of us into the nostalgia zone. This also brings me to today’s writing tool: anthropomorphism.
