Comments on: Character Names – Random, Plentiful and Believable

By: creative writing + self analysis

creative writing + self analysis — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:52:10 +0000

[...] I eat my own dog food on character names and got all of these from my spam folder as mentioned in a previous blog post of mine. That there was a great name for a circus acrobat was a big [...]

By: Kim Stearns

Kim Stearns — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:02:35 +0000

I always love hearing about little tricks and suggestions like this! I will definitely use that trick whenever I next get the chance.

By: M. Jaynes

M. Jaynes — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:12:23 +0000

Well said, Tim! I always get a kick out of the names you use in your stories and your advice will help tremendously.

By: Joey Robert Parks

Joey Robert Parks — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:10:53 +0000

cool idea, Tim. The novel I’m working on has about 100 minor characters in need of names. I’m digging the spam route. Thanks for the tip!

By: Rose713

Rose713 — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:24:15 +0000

I used a plant catalogue once and found Van Sissinghurst as the perfect name for the primary villain I was writing about. The news is a good source for strange names, look in the obituaries. But I also find at times I become too focused on the character’s name, thinking it has to somehow enhance or support the actual traits and behaviors of the character. The worst is when I think I have a name, but can’t keep myself from searching for something a little bit better.

By: Eric Bahle

Eric Bahle — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 02:50:45 +0000

That’s flippin brilliant. I’ve been looking at the authors on the books laying around my desk and mixing first and last names. That well dries up pretty quickly.

By: Jeff Moriarty

Jeff Moriarty — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:53:41 +0000

Timely post! I just used this technique twice tonight. If the age of the person is important I may cross reference with a name frequency site (which names were popular in which years), but the Spam folder is where I often start.