It happened with Mr. Kato Kitty.
Yep, I learned this first lesson over twenty-one years ago.
It all started when I wanted to name him Tyrone, after Tyrone Power, the movie actor.
I'm not that old, people! My mom used to love watching these old black and white films with Tyrone Power as the swashbuckling hero.
You've seen Mr. Kato Kitty.
It wasn't the smooth, suave, debonair attitude of a swashbuckling hero.
It was more like one of the Peter Seller's versions of the Pink Panther movies, where Cato leaps out to attack Inspector Clouseau.
Yeah, like that.
When we named my daughter, I wanted a name that would roll off my lips when I yelled the whole thing.
Hey, I was just planning ahead! Trust me. Every kid gets yelled out. And every mom will yell the child's name in its entirety. It's a given.
So when you name your characters, you want a name that fits the character.
Sometimes we hit the right name the first time around, sometimes we have to try different names until we find one that works.
When I decided to take an adult character from THE LEPRECHAUN CONNECTION and write about her as a ten-year-old, I knew her old name wouldn't work.
It was Puck--an acronym for Pillywiggin Unicornia Ciara Kelpie. Yes, I know I was trying too hard, plus it didn't help that MTV just had a reality show on with an obnoxious dude by the name of Puck, and don't even go into Shakespeare's Puck.
She became a few other names before I settled on Rhee. Then I started having flashbacks to high school and the Rhea brothers (don't ask), while Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, was hitting her stride. I had to change the name.
In gallops my old horseback buddy, Jody, to the rescue. Jody allowed me to use her old Dungeons and Dragons name, Kyte.
It was a perfect fit. You want to know the weirdest thing about this?
Jody was one of my first readers for TO GNOME ME IS TO LOVE ME, before I cut 1/4 of the story and rewrote the beginning, and she told me that my character was eerily similar to her old D&D character.
When you get it right, it's sweet!
Later, Peeps!
Oh, Margaret, how I can relate. Named a race horse Wyl E Coyote. That's NOT good no matter how cute it sounded.
ReplyDeleteNaming characters are so hard for me, but you have a winner with Kyte!
I agree, Megs. Names are hard and I usually suck at them. :-)
ReplyDeleteMargie, thanks for making me smile! I agree about getting names right - I always kept my pets "nameless" until they "told" me what their names were. Even if the names sounded dorky, I named them what they told me. It seemed to make the happy. :)
ReplyDeleteSome critters come with names that fit, Jods. Princess was definitely a princess. Buster fit Buster, but Abe . . . well, Abe had to be short for Psychotic demon horse.
ReplyDeleteNaming our puppers has been the easiest thing in the world for me. In fact, I named Chance and Olivia while they still belonged to our neighbor; by the time he gave them to us, they already knew their names.
ReplyDeleteI'm not real finicky about character names, though some come with names attached (which is how I ended up with heroes named Bryce and Buck). Those are just about impossible to change. Others were created as secondaries whom I never intended to make a hero or heroine, but I'm stuck with the throwaway name I've given them.
I liked Puck, but Kyte's a great fit for the character.
I remember you doing a presentation to RWI (either that or in critique) that if you didn't have a name for a character, you would put XXX and come back later.
ReplyDeleteThis would drive me freakin' NUTSO, Marilyn!
I have to have a name, even if it's a wrong name . . . hmm, I wonder if that's why my new character in SCENT OF EVIL has amnesia . . .