Character Names question

In a cop-heavy story I've nothing against using the Detective title, which can be a helpful reminder of who's who in and around, say, a crowded crime scene... tho' I'd maybe drop this for the lead character just to distinguish him from the others (assuming he's one of the four).

Another possible problem: Smith, Johnson, Black, Brown, they're much of the same vanilla flavor, three of them have one-syllable names, two are dull colors that start with a "B" -- that's kinda boring. Tinkering with letters might help separate them, e.g. and purely for fun's sake, Smythe, Johnson, Blaque, Brownlee, those sound like four different guys.

There's also fun to be had with different-sounding first names or nicknames to compliment the surnames, Rutherford Smythe, Cram Johnson, Vesper Blaque, Coach Brownlee, stuff like that.

I'm just sayin'.

-Derek

nganok said:

I am working a Murder Mystery where four detectives are working together to solve a crime. Detective Smith, Detective Johnson, Detective Black and Detective Brown

With their character heading is it neccessary to put "detective" in front of each name each time? How about in action lines?

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Boy, it could et tedious reading all those "DETECTTIVES" over and over and over. How to solve?

One way might be to abbreviate "DETECTIVE" to "DET."

But better I think to award each of these guys more interesting names and just use the names, after having established in their intros that they are indeed Detectives.

You might also consider giving them nicknames so as to opportune the addition of a little color. But this gets tricky with four characters, especially if they're introduced at the same time; less tricky if they're introduced two at a time or one at a time.

"Another trenchcoated fellow ENTERS, has a look at the body. This is Detective James Brown, whom we'll know as BULL, as he is known by his colleagues."

Characters should always be referred to in your narrative in the same way their speeches are cued. Otherwise, confusion may be introduced.

You're gonna have to work with this to find a good solution. But reading "DETECTIVE" over and over and over is something you probably want to avoid, very tedious.

Ah, the challenges!

I'd say go with whichever name is most indicative of their characters.

I saw a couple of pages from that (now-cancelled) Everwood TV show. The lead in that was a guy called Andy Brown but the script pages referred to him as DOCTOR BROWN. It didn't make a lot of sense to me at first until I thought about the notion that in that show, the fact that he's a doctor is a huge part of his character and it's how the majority of the other characters see him.

If your characters are detectives through and through and it's what drives them and reveals most about them then I say stay with detective. But if we see more of the cops at home and the police side of things doens't have a lot of weight, maybe consider giving them nicknames or first names.

But obviously, once you decide, stick to what you've chosen.