How to solve all your naming dilemmas

I concur with this advice. I would only add that if you use a temporary filler name for a person or thing, be sure to always use the same name for him/her/it, and not for anyone/anything. Makes it easier to do a find/replace all when you figure out what the perfect name is later.

And if you mark all of your temporary names with set of symbols (ie: **Bob, **Refrigerator) you can search for that character string and make sure you replace all the temporary names.

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"To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007)

2006 - Famine: A Novel - failed
2007 - A Midsummer Night's Dream...IN SPACE! - on hold

Agreed. Or (for future story/nano writing), go on Wikipedia or any other site and pick names BEFORE you write the story. Or have a handy list that, if the character fits, you can just put there. If you know a loose outline of a character's personality, you can generally decide what kind of name they'll have and search for stuff relating to it (example: if you want you character's name to have a reference to death, as mine does, look it up - I came up with the title Columbarium and the last name Charnel from one search alone).

I suggest not doing this right now for nano though... just for future writing assignments. For now, do what the lovely people above suggested :3

Skull Juggler: Columbarium (book 2) - Nano 2008
www.SkullJuggler.com

For the longest time my main characters name was Tiddlywinks. Other names were like Muscles and Bubbles. It let me get down to writing the story instead of sweating the details, and eventually their names just fell into place all easy like. :3

Sui Causa

This does work really well- for ages one of the MCs in my story was just called "Amy" (even though it was in a fantasy world where that made no sense whatsoever!) until one day I just went "Hmm, I'd better give her a name now." So I did!

Why am I doing this again? Oh yeah, to make me feel speshul... *kicks rock* It's not working.

Awesome advice ^^

I know I've had times when I would sit and stare at my page, or screen, trying to figure out that perfect character namme or place name. A silly thing to get stuck on when you can stick in a temporary name and come back later :)

This is fantastic.
I'm using a story that I have (want) to use the traditional names for things, but it takes a bit to tweak and find names for even silly things. Like a small town the MC passes through for three pages.

Refrigerator.
Will do.

"Don't eat by the computer! That's why the keyboards so sticky."
. . . .
Where I am I supposed to eat?

Wonderfully simple advice.

I wracked my brain trying to think of a better name for my main character other than Cathy, but I've already taken your advice before I even saw this thread and decided to roll with it.

I don't think I'll change another character's name though. There's something incredibly humorous about the name Harold.

Good idea. Half the time I need a character it turns out to be someone's cousin, and I dont' want to think of how many different characters I've just called *Cousin. It would help if I gave htem names, however stupid they are...

I have tried to respond to this post at least 4 times - and each time it didn't post. Here's hoping the traffic has died down a bit ....

I have a file called "Cast of Characters" where I list every character that appears in my novel. The file is divided into sections by location - for example "The Barony" and "The Sea Serpent in Port Smith." Under each location are two columns - one is character name and the other is a description of the character (bartender, head stable lad, major domo, etc). That way, if my MCs ever return to a location or mention someone in passing , I don't have to go back through the novel to find the name.

It also has a secondary purpose. When I can't come up with a name of a person or location, I merely put the description in { } within the novel and leave that column blank in the cast of characters or enter it that way as a section. That way, when I come up with a name, I can easily search for it and replace it.

A sample section of my novel might look like this ...

MC looked into the dimly lit room and saw {dude with information}.
{dude with informaiton} didn't look up from his drink when she sat next to him at the bar. If his suspicions were accurate, he had no interest in being associated with her at all. He spoke into his mug, "The gem is in the basement of {tavern with gem} in {villian's home town}.

Hope this helps. If you feel like padding word count is a bad thing - use _ with your descriptions (e.g. dude_with_information).

Here is a name site with 20,000 names from a lot of different countries. Start getting ideas now for your next novel. :o)

Kryten: Don't you believe that God exists in all things? Aren't you a Pantheist?
Lister: Yeah, I just don't think it applies to kitchen utensils. I'm not a Fryingpantheist.
(Red Dwarf, "The Last Day")

I always use http://www.behindthename.com/

It's great because I put a character trait in the search box and it'll give me a character with that meaning. At the moment though I'm just choosing the first name that comes into my head and will change them later. Got to love the 'replace all' feature on Word.

~Marie Silver~

~Marie Silver~