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Written by James Hime
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Sunday, 27 December 2009 17:35 |
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Ishmael. Woodrow Call. John Grady Cole. Othello.
How do writers decide on the names of their characters? I suppose everybody has a different approach.
For minor characters, I shoot for names that are fairly simple and ordinary. But this approach has its risks. I once had a character in an unpublished manuscript named "Ken Jennings," only to be told by a reader that a real person by that name had become famous playing a televised game show with great success (I, of course, didn't have a clue about this). I changed his name to Mason Porter, since the character was a mathematician and one of my son's friends (a PhD in math) was so named. (I asked for, and received, permission first).
I often fall back on the names of people I know, not because I am modeling the character on them so much as I know the name is relatively common. Plus, I can spell it.
The name can't be too common, though. One of my best friends is named "Bill Smith" and I have in fact based a character on him (again, in an unpublished manuscript) but I changed name of the character to "Will Smythe." "Bill Smith" seems too much like an assumed name, even on a real guy.
In ARMADILLOS, two characters are named after actual people whose loved ones paid for that privilege at an auction sponsored to benefit the Houston Grand Opera. In fact, the HGO has made more money from those naming rights than I've made from the book. (Anything for the HGO.)
Jeremiah Spur came by his name because I was looking for something strong and Texas-sounding. I hit on the last name "Spur" because there was once a President of the University of Texas at Austin named Stephen Spur (this would have been in the late sixties). That's a pretty fair name for my protag, I think.
But no character-ever- will have a better name than "Hannibal Lecter." Just part of the genius that is Thomas Harris, eh?
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Politicians are Bad People |
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Written by James Hime
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Thursday, 24 December 2009 11:00 |
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Got a note this morning from a good friend of mine who is reading a re-written version of a manuscript I first finished in '02. He says I need to change the name of a character that has been in the book from the beginning because in today's world it would bring to mind untoward solicitations in airport restrooms.
The character's name?
Larry Craig. That name will have to change, for sure.
Politicians. No evil is beyond them.
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Written by James Hime
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Thursday, 24 December 2009 10:37 |
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Don Delillo once wrote that every novel is "a bug-eyed race." I'm not exactly sure what that means. And I would be the last person in the world to try to generalize the creative process.
Books do not, in my experience, write themselves. And yet they cannot be forced into being, either. You start with a premise, some characters- in my case, they are usually flawed so as to be believable- and then you place the characters in circumstances designed to move the story along and let them act in a way that is true to their nature. Sometimes this feels like work and if so the result is likely to be unsatisfactory.
Then there are times like the other morning when I walked into the parking structure at my apartment in Houston and suddenly had an unbidden idea that propelled the story forward in a very natural way. Oftentimes, as was the case then, that leads to a cascade of new ideas that are almost overwhelmingly compelling and original and at such moments I cannot think of anything but the story and how it will develop. I'll just space out and am almost oblivious to everything around me. I may be driving my car- not always the best of ideas when in the grip of my Muse- and will reach my destination with no memory of how I got there. I am lost in the world inside my head.
Then there are long stretches when my Muse seems to have left me altogether and those are very barren and somewhat frightening times. I shouldn't be scared, I know. My Muse is silently at work, and will get back to me when she is ready.
I had about twelve months of wandering in the wilderness that ended back in November and now I have to stop myself writing too much on a daily basis lest I miss that small voice that is my Muse, telling me where she would have me go.
Just at the moment, the writing life is really very good.
Merry Christmas, y'all.
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From the Legacy Books Signing |
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Written by James Hime
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Thursday, 17 December 2009 17:19 |
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Many thanks to David Hale Smith for taking the photo and sending it around.
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Written by James Hime
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Sunday, 13 December 2009 14:18 |
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My hard-working agent, David Hale Smith, and I ran the White Rock Half Marathon this morning. We did not exactly run it together, inasmuch as I am a slow old guy and he is a fast young one. Even so, we are unaware of any other author-agent team that competes in the distance races.
My time was unremarkable but I did finish in the top 100 in my division (males, 55-59 years old). Barely.
This is also the first time in my life that I can honestly quote the line from Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down"- "the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had one more for desert."
Great runners' food court at the finish line.
Congratulations to David on a heckuva fast time.
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