Character Development - Chicken or Egg Approach

[OZ]

Sorry for the delay in replying but my nephew got married over the weekend and I haven't done much on the board. The setting is modern suburban although much of the story will take place elsewhere in the old cyclone, rabbit hole, wardrobe type shift.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Sorry for the delay in replying but my nephew got married over the weekend and I haven't done much on the board. The setting is modern suburban although much of the story will take place elsewhere in the old cyclone, rabbit hole, wardrobe type shift.

Modern suburban, I would think thinking about income level and social background and so forth should be a good handle on plausible names.  Baby name books and websites are useful for this, particularly the sort of ones that say "don't call your kid X, it sounds tacky" because that will tell you how a given name was perceived at a given time.

[meg_evonne]

Names are an opportunity; they allow you to imply things about background and social context.  The only place I really struggle with them is when I bump into test readers who read by word shape, and who come back saying things like "It's easy to read 'Dumitrov' as 'Dumbledore' so maybe this guy's first name could start with a letter other than A?" because that is entirely not natural to me (because 'Dumitrov' does not sound in the least like 'Dumbledore' at least to me).

I love this comment. And you and OZ are so right. Still, I am a person who doesn't see the endings of words. (You may have noticed. Nothing diagnosed or anything, but it's obvious if I'm tired and reading or typing. I just don't see the endings at those times. If it's close--my mind makes the leap.) Therefore going with something different in the alphabet is something I will always seek out. It just makes it easier for me to read. Also, I'm in young adult category, so the encouragement is for readers like me, or far worse, and the name variation helps them too.

It is also something that the awesome Jill Santopolo (young adult book editor) pushed in her novel classes. It was something the editors at her house drilled into them--so I comply.

[Paynesgrey]

We need a button for "All of the above."  Seriously... I'll often think I have the character fleshed out, locked down tight and solid.  But as I write the character's dialogue, sometimes they'll spin off in a different direction.  Not just in terms of personality, but even in physical description.  For example, First Rider Kadien Jess started out like



As he got more lines, I kept hearing Michael Clarke Duncan reading them and my mental image shifted to



By the time the first draft was complete, Kadien Jess had settled into



Now, his basic personality and role in the story didn't change, but the voice and the mental image that came with it evolved through the course of the books. 

Other characters have stayed exactly the way I first envisioned them; they haven't changed in the slightest. 

Zeddie has pretty much always been

 

and since the character concept was conceived, Shaifennen Roehe's always been



Pretty distinctive look and feel for each of those characters, but some of them have evolved and morphed from something so far from the original mental image that physically they have no resemblance to the original, and while retaining the core personality, the mannerisms and voice have changed.  Others are solid and concrete.  About the only change Shaifennen has seen is the thing she does with her hair.  (She thinks it makes her less short.)

I find it all quite confusing.

[meg_evonne]

Confusing, but beautifully described Paynesgrey. Thank you for sharing. I feel like cutting and pasting your comments and your photo/drawings into a learning file. You could teach a workshop session on this and I'd come.

Why? Because it rings so true! Thank you for taking the time to share. And you perked my interest to read your characters myself! The morphing of your first character was like a mind-blowing growth that was gorgeous and you let us see it. Really cool.

[Paynesgrey]

I tweaked the layout a little to make it easier to read... Not sure I'm fit to teach a workshop, just pointing out how my own process varies.  My characters are the boss of me.  They even talk their way out of the Red Shirt by convincing me they have great stand-alone stories of their own, and that *other* character looks sooooo good in red...

In any case, thanks for the kind words!  Gotta warn you, Shai and Zeddie only appear briefly in The Terror of Twelvety Town.  Shai's scenes are brief, and Zeddie's are brief, but critical.  (She gets to do my Conan-style grand ass whupping.)  Kadien doesn't appear in that one, but he has a lot of screen time in the next novella, Valorous Daughter.