Bisky's Twitterling's Scribbles! discussion

So, I was sitting here wondering. Have you ever doubled up on names in a book? Was it on purpose or you just rolled with it?

Or do you delete it instantly and see it as poor planning?

I mean, names are often repeated in real life.

(I was just wondering as I was going to name an extra Amy but that will probably be a name I want to use a again at somepoint #AmScribblingWhileCooking)

I ran into this. One of my characters was named Timothy, after my deceased brother. During the course of my writing, my younger son, also Timothy, wanted to be in the story, so in went Timmy.

Ahh see I counted varitions in spellings when I wrote the question :p

I've only run into this when I started writing things in a more real world setting. I like my names outrageous otherwise :p Blood and Emerald for example.

I won't double up on names in one story unless there is a reason for it and I can somehow inform the reader. It's simply too confusing.

I try not to even use two names that start with the same letter. I want to make it as easy on the reader as possible unless there's a good story-related reason for it.

@michael That and names ending the same way such as Nicky and Vicky.

In my first book, i noticed I had used the same name twice for secondary characters, I went back and changed it. Although in real life there may be many Bob or Bill or Jim, in a book without the visual aid, I believe it would be a mistake to use the same name twice, unless part of the plot.

@GG Oh yes, that too can get confusing! xp

But yes, I agree with Jack, it is pretty confusing; however I think there are some exceptions like if the tone is comedic or sarcastic and you have like Mark A and Mark B and its a reoccurring joke in the book then it could work and it's amusing vs confusing. (Sorry Mark, it was the first name that popped in my head! It can't help but be a good one, really.)

Personally, I don't double up on names. It could possibly translate to the author not caring or 'trying hard' to the audience, but, of course, that's just an audience subjective opinion, and idk if you've noticed, but they can be pretty tough critics lol.

@Bisky Oh gosh, #AmScribblingWhileCooking?? :o If I ever attempt that someone should have the fire dept on speed dial lol. I'm already a terrible cook as it is xp So brave!

I think it also depends on your story. In Holes, the whole point was that all the men had the name Stanley Yelnats. You might specifically use a name twice to say something like, I'm that Mary, not the other. I haven't personally used names twice, but I could see why some might use it.

* Grins * At least my name is getting out there

I don't really put that much thought into names unless it's a main character and the name calls out to me. I usually have a list of names written randomly on a piece of paper, close my eyes, then point to a spot on the paper. Then I cross that name out. I have a sheet for male, female, and last names. If I don't do something like that then all my names will start with T, S, J or B.

If there are two people with the same name, I've usually done this intentionally for some reason, sometimes just comic effect, like Big David is smaller than Little David but they were called that bcs Big David was older, so whenever they get introduced, someone always says, "Why are you Big David if he's the big one?"

One time I named two characters similar names without realizing it might confuse readers. One was Mr. Orten, and the other was Mr. Ortiz. (Don't ask me why I never noticed this in writing it, but I didn't.) When I got the feedback back from a test reader (my mom) I at first couldn't understand why she didn't know what was going on. Finally, I got that she couldn't keep track of who was who because of the names. Ever since then, I pay stricter attention to who is named what.

Naming characters is a favorite part of writing for me, and I like to make the names as individual as the characters. I don't usually use a name twice in the same story, but I can see plot-driven reasons to do it.

I also really appreciate the Dickensian way of naming a character to reflect his/her personality traits. (Apparently it's called charactonym.) So far I pay more attention to the name's sound for the impression I want to give readers of the character. I've given more important characters longer names, and less important characters shorter names, but haven't gone full blown Dickensian yet. I'd like to!

@Jennifer, I love that! I keep a word document for unique names I find and write them in little notebooks when I'm not on the computer. I love combining first and last names too. (and middle names!)