Rational Insanity
Naming characters
I have often been faced by the question of whether what names we give our characters in fiction is important or not. The answer is actually very simple, but the process can seem very complicated. The initial process of writing a story is complicated in itself and the characters are elements that lend another facet of complication. Frankly, I would not want any of this to sound complicated because I want more and more people to be able to express themselves in prose -- fiction in particular. Trust me, it may sound absurd, but it's very fulfilling especially for someone like me who started out in poetry. Now, to begin the lecture (hehehehe).
My friend Marcel Milliam, a very good writer himself, writes stories that are character based. Therefore, as determined by his own style of writing, his characters play a very important role in his fiction. In any story in particular the characters play a very important role, however, the roles may either be minor or major. In my case, I write stories which are situation based, hence, I pay very little attention to my characters. Paying attention to characters means having to describe your characters in fairly intimate detail but with a certain amount of control; avoiding what Ma'Am Charry Lucero would call the Barbie-doll complex. In the matter of naming the characters, unless we want the names to matter in the plot of the story such as naming someone 'Lucifer' who later turns out to be evil reincarnate, characterization is more important. This means that our characters may have no names but they should have flesh. How is this done? I believe Christians would ask this very question considering the fact that Baptism plays a very important role in making up the person. Frankly, everything is possible for a fictionist. A character could come alive even without a name in the hands of a fictionist. Sometimes, something inanimate such as a piece of paper could even be considered a character. The secret to this is characterization.
Marcel defines characterization as presenting your characters in a story in such a way that your characters could pop out of the page at any time and appear right in front of you. This is a very accurate description of what characterization really is. Your characters bear a huge brunt of the plot of the story so therefore you should be able to introduce them to your readers as accurately as possible. The secret to characterization, however, is zooming in to the most important aspect of your character, the aspect that plays an important role in your story. For instance, if your story is about murder, then you should describe your character is such a way that the audience would believe that that character is capable of murder, otherwise, the story will become contrived.
The naming of the character is part of characterization but more dependent on the setting than on the plot, hence, you would not name a character 'Michael' if that character was a cave man, would you?
Now, what does it matter if your characterization of the character is faulty or not? Honestly? Everything matters. How would you expect your readers to believe that your character is a farmer if you give him/her elite traits? This works the other way around -- how would you expect your readers to believe that your character is elite if he/she does not know the meaning of the word VISA or MASTERCARD (read: even if the character is feigning elitism the first things that he/she should know are the meaning of the words above).
This is the value of characterization and I applaud Marz for giving great attention to his characters.
On the other hand, style has everything to do with storytelling. If you are able to read the works of O. Henry, you will notice that at some point, a shadow or a chess board even becomes a character. This basically means that your characters don't have to be living breathing beings, the secret is in how you characterize them. Characterize a shadow, you might ask? Why not if that shadow plays an important role in your story.
For budding fictionists, I would suggest that studying the character first before going on to write your story would be very helpful. A character study is just a very simple list where you write down all your characters and describe each one in as much detail as you can.
Are you ready now to write a story? Send them to me at crabland2002@yahoo.com, I'll help you!
Be rational; be insane... every once in a while!!!TTFN!
I love you all! Byers!