Unnamed character who won't shut up!

WHen it becomes too straining for the reader to remember.

For example, if he has multiple lines that is divided up.

Stunted said:

Hey, guys. What do you do if you have sort of non-characters--people your principles meet in the bathroom, people in a crowd--who have to talk? When do they talk enough to deserve some kind of name or title? Thank you.

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Essentially, when someone develops an actual personality, it's time to name them. If it's more than simply Second Cop or Man At Counter but there's enough of an interchange so that you have some sense of them as a real human being as opposed to that sort of plot cannon fodder sort of character, that's when you ought to name them.

Or when you find it difficult to keep them straight -- because if you do, then others will.

NMS

My favorite non-names of background characters:

1) In The Blues Brothers Movie, there was character --a grizzled old man-- who lived in the same flop house as Elwood Blues. As Elwood was walking into the front door of the flop house, the grizzled old man was sitting at the far end of the lobby and spotted Elwood entering. He called out to Elwood: "Did you remember to get my Cheese Whiz?" All in one unbroken motion we saw Elwood wordlessly reach into his pocket, pull out a can of Cheese Whiz, and toss it across the lobby into the ready hands of the old man. The old man caught the can and instantly pulled out some crackers and started spraying ribbons of Cheese Whiz onto them.

That was the ONLY instance of that character in the entire film. We never saw that old man again, we never heard anyoe mention his name -- nothin'!!

When the credits rolled at the end, we saw a credit for a character whose name was listed as "The Cheese Whiz." (I laughed out loud when I read that credit.)

2) In George Romero's Land of the Dead, we saw a teenaged zombie girl wearing a LaCrosse uniform (or maybe it was a field hocky uniform I don't recall which). The number on the front of her uniform was a 9.

When the credits rolled at the film's end, we saw a credit for a character named "Number 9."




I always try to make up semi-legitimate names for my "non-characters" from two prespectves. First, from the perspective of the actor trying to fit the acting credit somewhere on his/her resume, becasue if the actor has nothing but the same-old-same-old non-character names like "Cop #2" and "Third Henchman" all over his resume, that REALLY sucks, but "Numebr 9" and "The Cheese Whiz" are eye-catching. Second, from the perspective of the audience reading the credits at the end, because the audience WILL remember the whole Cheese Whiz moment, but will probably be confused and draw a total blank if they read a vague and unimaginative credit for "Old Man in Flop House Lobby."

I always kind of judge it on the terms of being *necessary* to name the character. Does this character *need* a name?

I always have a hard time naming characters though because my characters names usually mean something to the story.

maybe that's why I do it this way. Any who...

I would say look at a few factors in addition to this: Will we see him again? Is it getting confusing trying to follows who's who within a scene? Does he have some bigger implication in the story? Will we see him as a different character later (Same actor/Same Character/Different Status, think Undercover Boss)? Is something he's saying important? Will this dialogue be referenced? Etc. Etc.

If the character is just simply there, then why does it matter what his/her name is?

Stunted said:

Hey, guys. What do you do if you have sort of non-characters--people your principles meet in the bathroom, people in a crowd--who have to talk? When do they talk enough to deserve some kind of name or title? Thank you.

Click to expand...

Just call them Man, Woman, Girl or Boy. You could have Young/Old Man/Woman, or First Man if there's more than one unnamed character in the scene.

Imagine if you were an actor called to play 'Bob' and you realised that Bob was some man in a supermarket whose eggs wouldn't scan.

Gee, I name characters that never say a word,
and never even get into the book except for
being mentioned by one of the main characters.

If the MC knows the person name 'em.
It's all a reflection of your characters, do they care
enough to name friends or just lump them
in 'my friends' category.
((Plus you get to name your real life friends
in your book - showing them the love))
If it's some person sitting in the next stall
in a public bathroom (they could carry on
a lengthy conversation and never know anything
about the person--except what kind of shoes they
have on-- . . or that person could do
all the talking, and the MC never say a word)

Anything and everything is possible in
your story.

I don't remember which movie it was, but they listed all the actors with a single line in the film by the line of dialogue they'd spoken.

I thought that was insanely genius and still don't know why more movies don't do that.

This is an excellent puzzler. Had to think about that one for awhile.

I think it comes down to whether one of your other characters refer to that person by name. Otherwise, I try to at least go beyond MAN #1, and go with something descriptive, like BEACHBALL-STOMACH MAN.

Sure makes things easier for the Casting Director.