I hate my MC's name
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I hate my MC's name
Greg Turner. I hate it. He hates it. The other main character hates it so much that she's starting calling him Turner (but that as a first name is too much).
But I'm stuck. I can't think of another name.
I'm at 2400 words, and his name is making me cringe.
Help?
Re: I hate my MC's name
Just change it. Change it now, and just keep writing with the new one, whatever seems right. And then change it again, until it IS right.
Well, that's what I'd do, anyhow. And yes, adopt-a-name is a good option, too. :)
Re: I hate my MC's name
The other option is to turn (no pun intended) the name into a plot-point. Make the fact that his name gets made fun of part of the story.
Re: I hate my MC's name
Thanks! I decided to stick with the name, but the MC calls him Turner, which made a nice little flashback as to why she decided to call him that. Everything happens for a reason in November!
Re: I hate my MC's name
Ahem. Evil Troy and Evil Abed?
Re: I hate my MC's name
The darkest timeline.
Re: I hate my MC's name
As for names, I take a couple routes to get them:
1. Think about an actual person I have known that has some of the key characteristics of the character. Then I rearrange the letters of their first & last names - add some letters, remove some. Get to a good name that flows well & 'sounds like' who my character is.
2. I think about who i want the character to be: traits, personality, appearance. I take those descriptive terms [e.g. strong-headed acrobat] & do the same rearranging of letters.
3. I keep a list of the alphabet a-z & tick off how many times I use each letter for the first in a name [Of either a person or place]. That way I spread the love around. :-] [I personally stay away from names beginning with X or Z]
Re: I hate my MC's name
There's an adopt a name thread on the Adoption Forum :)
Re: I hate my MC's name
I read somewhere that a good way to continue when you reach a place like this is to just start writing his name a new way, name him anything that you like, or name him something weird so you remember to think of a really cool name later, and either do a Find/Replace in your word processor for the first 2400 words, or make a note/remember to change it after. Or catch it in editing.
Re: I hate my MC's name
i had that problem, so today I changed it from Jon/Joe/Dan to Fluke Mccloud... I don't know how I feel about that last name, I'll probably change it later. Or I might change it to that guys name from Die Hard....
Re: I hate my MC's name
I already did one name change of a character and I'll probably have more, especially the dogs.
Before you change the name, consider that you will write the character differently with a name you hate than with a name you love. When I'm seated on the horns of this dilemma I like to experiment with using a ridiculous substitute name like Happy Gardener, or my own name, or "Mom"/"Dad", or Circle or Square or Oval, anything to temporarily deal with the name issue and let me keep on writing. But I urge you to continue writing for a couple of days just to learn what you may learn about the character. Then decide what to do. Everyone doesn't get a great name in life so why should they in fiction?
If you decide definitely to change the name, there are dozens of name-your-baby web sites, genealogical sites etc. with name origin information. That's where I browsed to find names I liked the sound of.
Re: I hate my MC's name
Maybe have your character legally change his name in the story to something you both prefer?
Re: I hate my MC's name
I tend to get stuck with last names. When this happens, I start looking at verbs for last names. I think they add something interesting to the mix. I gave my MC the last name Swift, but was toying with Fleet for awhile. I like the implied "action" in the character's name. It's a fun way to play with their personality to me. Kinda like calling a big guy "Tiny". It can go either direction as far as supporting or opposing who/what they are.
Re: I hate my MC's name
A good method to try is to flip to a random page in the phone book until you find a last name that fits.
Works like a charm and takes about 2 minutes haha
Re: I hate my MC's name
I had a friend at school who I only refered to by his surname. It suited him so much better than his forename. (The irony being, my son now has the same forename).
I think her calling him Turner is fine.
Re: I hate my MC's name
I like to let names develop naturally. I try never to start with a name. I write a few sections with no names attached and then one will inevitably pop out during the course of writing. Usually the one that comes out is one I stick with, though I have used the trust ol' "find and replace" on one or two names that just bugged me.
Re: I hate my MC's name
Hey, sometimes books need wierd names. Have you ever read The Pendragon Series by DJ MacHale? Well the MC's name bugged me at first, it was Bobby Pendragon. Pendragon was fine with me, but Bobby? Ehhh, I didn't enjoy it at first, but when you get attached to the character, you get used to the name. Go with whatever you want.