I am excited to develop the characters for my book that explores the true nature of Christianity in Los Angeles. I have been puzzling over the structure of the whole book for months now. There are five main sections, each with its own problem and solution, building on what came before. With this outline, I am now developing the locations and characters for the approximately 42 chapters. I need your thoughts and suggestions!
Charles Dickens created many characters that have far outlived him to our day. In the picture above, you can see some of them: Oliver Twist, Nicolas Nickleby, the old Curiosity Shop. I was intrigued to find in the Appendix to Martin Chuzzlewit, that Dickens had tried out numerous names before choosing Chuzzlewit. Martin Sweezleden, Martin Chuzzletoe and even Martin Sweezlewag. He definitely made the right choice to pick Chuzzlewit over these! As I make notes about characters for my book, I would love to get your input on the following things:
Who are your favorite fictional characters?
Why?
What words, names, and phrases do you connect with Los Angeles that might make good character names?
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
Top Three Favorite characters in fiction:
(1) Samuel Pickwick of Dickens’ first novel, The Pickwick Papers, as well as Pickwick’s sidekick, Sam Weller. (2) The King in King Rat and (3) Stephan Kovalski, the priest in City of Joy
(2) Pickwick is a kind-hearted, short-sighted character who becomes a hero only because of his friends. Sam Weller, one of the main reasons Pickwick succeeds, is an uneducated, “lower-class” character who has hard-earned wisdom from the streets of London. King Rat is a tragic figure who has so adapted his life and leadership to the fallen world of the prison camp that he loses everything when he and his fellow prisoners of war are liberated. Stephen Kovalski is a brave, sincere, and committed character who is willing to follow Jesus into the lives of the poorest of the poor.
(3) There has to be a way to play around with names and phrases like “Kim Kardashian,” “90210,” “Sunshine and palm trees,” “mind-numbing traffic,” Sunset Boulevard,” and “Hollywood.” But I am really interested to hear what you think of when you think of Los Angeles.
Send your invaluable responses to any or all of these questions in the comments below or by email to randy@randylovejoy.com.
I look forward to hearing from you!
