Names

How close are you to the names of your characters, especially if it's a favorite?

About book titles? Since titles cannot be copyrighted, would you change your title if someone else already used it? Or keep it since you can't part with something brilliant?

For me, there are a few names in my book that I wouldn't change even if you put a gun to my head (okay, maybe yes if it's a gun with bullets).

As with the title -- I feel very strongly about it since it's a perfect title for the book. If they change it too something like "To You with Love" I would DIE.

names and titles

Yeah I get attached to char names, as I would a real friend or enemy.

But I'll change their names if:
1. They tell me to.
2. When I read aloud, the name sounds wrong, or listeners have difficulty changing it.
3. That name is suddenly in the news and I don't like it.
4. I find a name I like better.

Book title: I avoid titles already used. How boring to have a title several books already claim. (A friend did this, and there are five titles in amazon with same. I don't get it.)

Regardless, the publisher can and will change my title if they think they've a better idea. I still carry my title in my noggin, marketing be damned.

Re: names and titles

Book title: I avoid titles already used.

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What about something you picked out that is just brilliant and perfect for your book, but before you can say "publish" someone else published a book with the *gasp* same name?

Re: names and titles

Hello,

I am attached to my character's name. I've spent over a year with her and would hate to have to change it.


I mean the first name. The last name I've changed before. My character's name was Ryder Burns, but I had critters suggest that the name is, um, suggestive of something. (I was never clear just what he could mean.

So I changed it to Ryder Greene.

My mystery series are about a Houston private detective Mitchell King and so the principal progatagonist's name is essential to the whole project. I chose the "Mitch King Mysteries" carefully because it's a good mystery name and reads well. So that's pretty set in stone.

Some of my main continuing character names are chosen with consideration but yes they could be altered. However as soon as the first of my novels sees print release, those names are also pretty well fixed.

That being said, I have changed the name of my minor characters all the time. One character in the book I'm now writing has changed from Janet Rudin to Janet Rudinsky to Reba Jaworsky to Rebecca Jaworsky to Rebecca Jacoby to finally Rachel Jacoby. And it could change again. It's obvious that besides her being of Jewish descent that the name is not absolute.

We had a thread earlier about titles. My titles are chosen carefully to fit the novel's theme, and also to be "sparky" names for the mystery bookshelves.

Can I change them? Sure. If the publisher wants a new name and wants me to change this, I'll be happy to give it serious consideration. I'm flexible if someone is paying me money. ha ha

Brilliant titles

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>What about something you picked out that is just brilliant and perfect for your book, but before you can say "publish" someone else published a book with the *gasp* same name?<hr></blockquote> This happened to me, except it was a crappy movie nobody saw.

I changed the title; it wasn't that special anyway.

If it's a well-known title, the publisher will almost certainly change it for you. Writers just don;t have much control over titles.

Names? I don't care. If the editor wants a change, I make the change. So far, I've never had this happen, but it wouldn;t bother me in the least.

It used to be normal to put "Tentively tittled" to show you understood that the editor would, in all probability, change it. You could also include more than one.

Editors ask for any and all kinds of changes. Some make sense, some don't; in my experience few are worth fighting about.

Usually if you agree to most of the changes an editor suggests they well be agreeable to the few you refuse to make.

Sort of a give and take.

I'm not especially attached to titles (which I don't usually come up with until the book is done anyway) or character names, so it wouldn't really bother me to make a change, as long as the change wasn't dumb or inappropriate.

- Victoria

Usually if you agree to most of the changes an editor suggests they well be agreeable to the few you refuse to make.

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I don't think I've ever refused to make a change, but I have negotiated, and more often than not the editors let something stand if I want it that way. When they don't agree, I make the change. I've found editors are far more often right than wrong.

I don't think I've ever refused to make a change, but I have negotiated,

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One of the things you should do before you get either upset, demanding, or irate at an editor's desired changes is to stop and think it through.

A lot of times what you want and what the editor wants can both be satisfied with some adroit writing.

I'm usually not too attached to my character names, and if I see a similar book title, I'll change it. That is, if I have one that I'm working with anyway.

But the two books I'm working on now I feel very strongly about. One has only a title and no main character name, but the other one has a title I think I"ll keep, assuming a potential publisher doesn't change it, and I love the character names I have so far. I'm so attached to them.

Yeah, I kinda go nuts over names. I use baby books, phone books, name guides and whatever I can get my hands on. I used to think there was special power in a character name, but I have come to believe that the building of the character makes the name more prominent - ergo - Joe Dirt.

thoughts - dub

About Titles:

Writing a non-fiction book about the ice age mammals discovered in my area. I read several newspaper articles about the discovery beforehand and it seems the press had already touted this area as "Valley of the Mastodons."
Well, since it already had that tag, I decided to go with it even though I didn't pick the title.
Gad zooks! I just recently realized that Jean Auel has titled one of her books, "Valley of the horses" which ALSO
deals with the ice age but is a fiction book.
Now I feel I might be ridiculed for this similarity. Or worse, trying to draw celebrity lightening on this title.

Triceratops

Yeah, I once had a novel all planed out. Never got around to writing it. Was years ago. I'd forgotten about it until I saw a book had just come out -- With the Title I had planned on using.

I still may write the story some day, but I feel kind of put out about the title.

I'm attached to the characters' names because I tend to choose them carefully, based on personality or some "hidden" meanings. For example, the protagonist's name is Greg, which means "vigilance." It actually has some significance in the story, as we find out how he was named. My female protagonist's name is Lian, which means "lotus" in Chinese. Again, it has some significance in the story.

It doesn't mean I can't change them, but at the same time I don't see why it's necessary. I can't imagine an editor coming to me and say, "I don't like the name Greg because it reminds me of my stinky father-in-law." Well, it could happen, I suppose.

I can't imagine an editor coming to me and say, "I don't like the name Greg because it reminds me of my stinky father-in-law." Well, it could happen, I suppose.

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I seriously doubt that could or would happen. More apt your Greg would bear too much resemblance to a Greg who was just acquitted for murder and the situation is currently ripe for suit.

Greg though is a rather indistinct name. When it comes to writing not much of a name at all. Buttafuoco is a wonderful name, but you would have to be pretty careful when using anything even close.

I think names are important and should be treated with the same care as anything else in your novel.

I guess I look at names differently, as well. They simply don;t matter to me, and I think it's partly because I think chracters already have a name. Sounds strange, but I just let the characters name themselves.

I like common names, and I hate names that have obvious meanings. "Storm," "Maelstrom," etc. They sound so phoney I lose all interest in the story.

I fully believe the character makes the name, rather than the name making the character.

I have a character in my book named "Malissa" (the name Melissa spelled with an "a" instead).One agent who read this story said she couldn't get past that difference, another agent had no problem with it. I have grown attached to the name, even though I'm hoping readers won't be holding their breath for some deeper reason as to why her name is spelled differently than the more common one. (There is a reason behind her mother's unique name, but that's about it.)

If an editor or agent wanted you to change your character's name, you really need to decide on how you feel about that. If you are attached to the name, and why. Try to negotiate with them over this.

In some instances, their request may be valid. But if it's because of current events, I can't help but wonder how that plays into a book that probably won't be out for another 9 months to one year.

Sounds strange, but I just let the characters name themselves.

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That happens to me often enough to consider it commonplace, but it does not happen all the time.

though I'm hoping readers won't be holding their breath for some deeper reason as to why her name is spelled differently than the more common one

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This reader probably would be wondering.

You could have her do a variant of the phone conversation I usually have about my name--"that's N-E-P-V-E-U, the P's silent, my father's side of the family is French-Canadian"--only with "yes, it really has an "A" in the middle, my mom just liked it, I think".

In another comment on character names, I'm writing modern American fiction, and realistic stories, so I select names that are in that zone. I pick some from phone books (chosing a first name from one page, last from the other). I pick names that aren't too common but not too unusual either (like a James Bond villain).

Some of my character names:

Philip Capshaw
David Meierhoff
Joe Duggan
Antonio Villarreal ("Tony Vee")
Ken “Gracie” Grace
Victor Allison
Larry Trevillian
Donna Boudreaux
Aaron Binares
Josie Ruiz
Raj Patel
Ed "Shorty" Caspian
Rachel Jacoby
Taurean Akers
Carol Chen
Jesus Ortiz
Ricardo Perdon
Rhonda Willett

But aside from my protagonist Mitch King I could change them if the publisher wanted to. I however see no reason why that would be needed. Hey, I'm clueless.

I've got a character named "Joe Nide" and everybody calls him simply "Nide". I really like that name for some reason. I would hate to part with it.

I've spent the last two years with my characters, and I'd be very reluctant to change them. They've become apart of my life, and it would be like losing a friend.

But if a gun was involved...yeah, I'd change it.