What’s in a name?

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

A famous line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. If a rose were to be called a turnip instead, it would still have all the properties of the same flower; beautiful scent, silky petals, vibrant colours. We would come to associate the word ‘turnip’ with meaning all of these things. Basically, it doesn’t matter what we call something, it’s still the same thing.

This works for people. Names can be changed and the person is still the same person. I once knew a girl who’s real name was, I think, Jane. However, from a very young age she was called Daisy by all who knew her and never could imagine calling her Jane. However, if I had she would have been the same person, although perhaps my perception of her would have changed.

So a person stays the same, but people’s thoughts and feelings towards different names can effect how  that person is viewed. An example is Katie Price/Jordan, who is the same person by either name, but clearly felt that being a topless model wasn’t suited to someone with as friendly and pretty a name as Katie. Another example is the new Prince George. A friend and I were joking in the pub the other night that he was nearly called Wayne or Kevin – clearly those names were never going to happen, but why did it feel so funny to think our future monarch could have been King Wayne I? Connotations with the name Wayne give people a pre-conceived idea about what that person is going to be like. People’s perceptions of names undoubtedly affected the royal couple’s choice when naming their son. Which is a shame; they could have broken with tradition and made Wayne the most popular name this decade.

All of this affects how a writer names their book characters. Well-used names, whether in real life or fiction, are to be avoided in my opinion. People have well-formed ideas of certain names and to use those in your manuscript either takes guts or stupidity.

I once ended up at the launch of a new book by chance, as it was happening on the same night as a winter fair and someone pressed a flyer into my hands. Never one to say no to a book launch, I went along with a couple of friends and we had a free glass of mulled wine and looked at the book. Turning it over to read the back, the first thing that I noticed was that the main character was called Tom Cruise (possibly with a different spelling, but I can’t remember now). The blurb made light of it, glancing over the fact that this self-published author had chosen a name of one of the most famous Hollywood stars. I admit, it made me put the book down and walk away. Perhaps the book dealt well with how someone else would live sharing the name of someone so famous, but if that’s what the book was about, I didn’t want to read it. I think it’s more likely the author thought ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be funny if my main character was called Tom Cruise but was nothing like him?’ and didn’t stop to think that all the readers out there would have had the Hollywood star’s face in their minds the whole time.

Another example was in a chick-lit book, where there was a minor character called Sue Sylvester. For those of you who don’t know, in the TV programme Glee there is a character with the same name. Now, it’s possible the author thought of the name before Glee started. But don’t you think they would have changed the name before the book was published? Again, it was made light of, the main character speaking to Sue on the phone and imagining she looked like the Glee character, only to have Sue turn up and look nothing like the woman from the television. What was the point?

So copying names can jolt you out of the narrative and make the reader uncomfortable. Likewise unpronounceable names. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been reading a book and suddenly you feel like you’re back at school, sounding out some multi-syllable name and stumbling every time. My technique when this happens is to quickly come up with a vague likeness that I can remember and, instead of torturing myself each time the name comes up, simply substitute the unpronounceable with my own, easier version. Perhaps not what the author intended, but then why choose something no-one can pronounce?

Fantasy names can be relatively easy. They can be completely made up and readers will simply accept the new names, because you’re writing about another time/place/dimension. The names in JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are an excellent example. His groups of names for different species gets across some of the qualities of each species while being unique names that the reader easily takes on board. The wizards, Gandalf and Saruman, have grand-sounding names with hard syllables. The elves have names that echo the names of stars and plants and sound generally mystical; Elrond, Arwen, Galadriel, Celeborn. Dwarves have quite percussive-sounding names with one or two syllables, that put me in mind of rocks; Gimli, Balin, Dori, Dwalin, Gloin. And finally, my favourite – the hobbit names. These are names that, for me, embody michievousness, fun and laughter; Bilbo Baggins, Frodo, Samwise Gamgee, Peregrine Took and (my absolute favourite) Meriadoc Brandybuck. Only two names from Tolkien have I ever seen in the real world – Arwen and Éowyn – and these are almost certainly copied from his books and not the other way around.

Where is all this musing on names going? Well, I am in the process of working on my next venture and I am struggling with a name for a character. The book is set near the year 3000 and I have already chosen most names, based on people I know or just names that came to my head and sounded right, but all have a futuristic “twist”. However, there is a character who doesn’t fit with the others, as he comes from what we know as Europe. So his name needs to sound a little different from the others, still have a root in a present-day name but not be one that is obviously “bad”. You can view the suggestions and make your own on my Facebook page or on Twitter use #helpingsuziwithnames.

Yes, a rose called something else would be the same flower. But somehow exactly the right name was chosen and our perceptions have been formed. And that’s what needs to happen for a writer.

Starbucks and writing… Part 3

Ah, my favourite place to write, it truly is.

I spent many years writing The Sillow Orb, sitting every evening in a room on my own, listening to Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter soundtracks and imagining myself to be a great writer. However, I’m fast becoming of the opinion that actually writing can be a little more social than that. While I haven’t yet progressed to joining a writing group or actually being able to give up work and rent a desk in a little office somewhere, I do enjoy sitting in my local Starbucks and watching life.

People are interesting and it’s a great place for picking up ideas for characters. My current book, a non-fantasy adult book, will require some realistic characters and I’m more than happy to drink the delicious vanilla lattes and do a little people watching. (Now, I’m not saying that the characters in The Sillow Orb aren’t realistic! I just find it far easier to give characters in a fantasy book characteristics, as you can play around with reality a little more. If a character isn’t from Earth, it makes sense that perhaps their idea of how you should live is different to yours or mine.)

So, I’m looking at people and trying not to make it obvious that I’m doing so. I don’t want to be branded a weirdo, after all. And I’m hoping no-one is looking over my shoulder and reading what I’m typing. It’s one thing to make observations about anonymous people, but I wouldn’t like anyone to think that their entire description and odd habits will turn up in a newspaper anytime soon. I certainly don’t want them frisking me for hidden cameras.

Let’s take a look around at who’s here and I’ll invent a little backstory for everyone…

1. A lone guy on a laptop. Blue jeans, black shirt and very dark hair, possibly Mediterranean. He’s leaning close to the screen, perhaps short-sighted but too proud to wear glasses? Or maybe he lost his contact lenses this morning and doesn’t have a back-up pair? The coffee he’s drinking is in a takeaway cup, which is a bit naughty because he’s sitting in and he’s been here since before I entered. His fingers are quite still and he’s reading intently, sometimes rubbing the black stubble on his face. Occasionally he nods. He doesn’t give the impression he’s working, but likewise he’s not looking at Facebook. He looks as though he’s answering emails, perhaps from his parents living in Greece. Back home, he was working in the family restaurant and he’s moved to the UK to open and run a similar restaurant here.  His parents weren’t entirely happy about him moving over here and they keep hoping he’ll come home and settle down. But he’s loving living in London and knows this is the life he always wanted.

2. A couple with big coffee tastes. She’s white, speaks with an accent and has amazing curly brown hair, caught up in a seemingly-effortless style. She’s drinking something hot and speaking quickly, gesticulating with hands, leaning forward and looking at her companion intently. He’s black, sitting quietly and in a laid-back fashion, leaning against the wall beside him. He has a mug infront of him but is sipping from a frappuccino cup with a straw. He says little, sometimes looking at her, sometimes gazing around the room. They have been together about two years, ever since she came over from Spain, and met while studying at the same university. They realised they both enjoyed coffee and come here every week to enjoy a drink and have a chat. There is love there, but they have grown comfortable with each other and he is content to listen while she talks. He loves her for her intensity and passion, she loves him for his quiet stability.

3. An odd couple. He’s a little rough-around-the-edges; scruffy pale jeans, scuffed Converse shoes, an untucked shirt. He carries no bag and wears a jean jacket that’s seen better days. His red hair, however, is perfectly styled although his facial hair looks like he hasn’t shaved for a few days. “Designer stubble”, perhaps. She, however, is the kind of girl I would have been scared of at school. Her hair, long and clearly straightened, is a perfect mix of blonde and brown. Her patterned black-and-white leggings perfectly emphasise her slim legs and she carries her brown bag in the crook of her arm. She exudes a confidence I have never had. As they wait for their coffee (hot for him, frappuccino for her), they joke around, looking at each other but  not touching. They are old friends, having studied drama in the same A-level class. Even though he went on to study drama at uni and she did languages, they remained the greatest of friends. People have always suspected they are lovers, but the two of them have never felt that way towards each other. Currently, they are both single, but the dynamics of their relationship will change as soon as one of them enters a serious relationship with someone else. They are both a little worried, which is preventing them from letting each other go in that way.

4. A lone woman, sitting down with only a drink and a phone. She looks a little anxious and fiddles with her mobile, as though she’s expecting someone. Her drink, a frappuccino with caramel-looking sauce but no cream on top, sits almost forlornly in front of her. She is Japanese, with a positive waterfall of beautiful black hair. Her shirt is a vibrant blue and she wears a chunky necklace of black and white stones. She has lived in this country for many years, having come over to study the piano at the Royal College of Music. For many years she has practised continuously, not being a child prodigy but having parents who took her small talent and produced it into something much bigger. She has friends here, other people from the College, but it is an intense life and she is close to getting her first solo performances at big venues in London. She is nervous and unsure of herself, but determined to make her parents proud.

Perhaps my next task will be to put all of these characters into a book… How might their lives intersect? Would they be friends or enemies? Is there potentially love there?

Task Seven: Rediscovering Your Child’s Eye

I have always admired writers who use a lot of description. I’ll never forget being fifteen and studying the opening to Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood. It’s so rich right from the off. We had to write our own versions, imagining a setting familiar to us in the dead of night. I chose to use the High Street of the village in which I lived and can still remember describing a cat’s pawprints in the fresh snow on a car bonnet, illuminated only by the Moon.

JRR Tolkien is another description-rich writer. I’m sure, if you’ve ever read either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings you will know what I’m talking about. It’s something, when I began to write my own fantasy book, The Sillow Orb, that defined part of my writing style and I love using description to paint really vivid scenes in the reader’s eye. Those of you who’ve read The Sillow Orb can tell me if I succeeded!

But it’s not just full-on description that can help a reader to see what a writer sees. Sometimes it can just be the little details that say a lot more about a person or a place than all the adjectives in the world. When describing, for example, a restaurant, an instant idea of the kind of place it is can be given in the small details of the menu: one establishment has a menu of embossed black writing on textured cream card and another has a menu of over-saturated food photographs behind a plastic laminate. Without me saying anything else, if you gave me your own description of each place I’m sure we would have similar places in mind!

*

The mug

I can see my desk reflected in the mug’s surface. The images are indistinct, but I can see the uneven edges and corners of the various papers. Light glints off the handle and the rim on both sides. Inside, in a perfect echo to the edge, there is a faint line curving round, where hot liquid has once sat. The cream colour of the inside of the mug shows the stains well; underneath the ring are some patchier stains, although curiously on one side only.

The short description of my mug gives you, I think, some insights into the kind of person I am, without me having to say things directly to you.

(Tasks are taken from The Five-Minute Writer by Margret Geraghty.)