Building Block: One
Many people struggle with many different things when they are writing. Plot holes, languages, governing systems, or just plain ol' sitting down and not being able to write.
For me it mainly deals with the successful naming of characters. Now, I have had to name so many characters for so many different things that I would hope, over time, I would come to find it less daunting. Not so however. Though, inspiration does tend to strike at odd times.
I do know, that during my first Camp NaNoWriMo I managed to write the first two or three chapters from a first person perspective, without giving a name to the main character. Mostly out of curiosity to see how long it would take me, and also to try and give me some time to actually come up with a name to give him. I did finally give him a name, and it stuck rather well. However, if I had tried to give him one at the start, it might have been an awful fit of a name, and I would have struggled even longer to try and find the right one for him.
Other times, I have a character that's had the same name for about 8 years, and I've never liked it at all. And then, thanks to one simple question from a fellow writer, and a strange way of me naming off my characters, the right name comes into place.
If you struggle with coming up with names for your characters, I will give one bit of advice (and this from me who used to do this in it's complete entirety): Don't focus on the meaning of the name you give your character unless absolutely necessary. You'll probably find that if you just find a name that fits, the meaning won't matter at all. And a lot of the time, trying to find a name with the right meaning, will greatly diminish the ability to find the right name that rolls off the tongue. Now please keep in mind, I've used names that have extremely specific meanings, and have tried again and again to work it out for that name to sound right and fit the personality, but again and again, it hasn't really worked.
I look up name meanings only after, or if I'm curious, but most of the time I find it easier to just go with how the name flows.
For instance, I have a character who's a stalwart and immovable kind of a girl, but what does her name make you think of? Air.
So sometimes, you'd be surprised at just how well a name with a completely opposite and maybe altogether wrong meaning, could fit your character just to a T.
For me it mainly deals with the successful naming of characters. Now, I have had to name so many characters for so many different things that I would hope, over time, I would come to find it less daunting. Not so however. Though, inspiration does tend to strike at odd times.
I do know, that during my first Camp NaNoWriMo I managed to write the first two or three chapters from a first person perspective, without giving a name to the main character. Mostly out of curiosity to see how long it would take me, and also to try and give me some time to actually come up with a name to give him. I did finally give him a name, and it stuck rather well. However, if I had tried to give him one at the start, it might have been an awful fit of a name, and I would have struggled even longer to try and find the right one for him.
Other times, I have a character that's had the same name for about 8 years, and I've never liked it at all. And then, thanks to one simple question from a fellow writer, and a strange way of me naming off my characters, the right name comes into place.
If you struggle with coming up with names for your characters, I will give one bit of advice (and this from me who used to do this in it's complete entirety): Don't focus on the meaning of the name you give your character unless absolutely necessary. You'll probably find that if you just find a name that fits, the meaning won't matter at all. And a lot of the time, trying to find a name with the right meaning, will greatly diminish the ability to find the right name that rolls off the tongue. Now please keep in mind, I've used names that have extremely specific meanings, and have tried again and again to work it out for that name to sound right and fit the personality, but again and again, it hasn't really worked.
I look up name meanings only after, or if I'm curious, but most of the time I find it easier to just go with how the name flows.
For instance, I have a character who's a stalwart and immovable kind of a girl, but what does her name make you think of? Air.
So sometimes, you'd be surprised at just how well a name with a completely opposite and maybe altogether wrong meaning, could fit your character just to a T.
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