What's In A Name
Help Develop Characters for My Second Book
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!
Hi there Randy!
What a great idea to ask people what their favorite characters are and why! I only have one character to suggest to you at this time but if I am able to muster up some more I will share them with you.
My most favorite book is Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, who loved living in Los Angeles and spent many days exploring the bookstore Acres of Books in Long Beach. I met him once at the public library on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood where he read to a small group of people and told stories from his life. What a wonderful man he was! The character Douglas Spaulding in Dandelion Wine is Bradbury's fictional version of himself as an twelve year old child growing up in a small town in Wisconsin in the 1930's. What I love about this character is that the bloom of childhood is still on him in his imagination and his excitement about life! Everything is still so fresh and new for him and by following Douglas along in this book, the reader gets to relive his or her own childhood.
In regards to words, names, and phrases that I associate with Los Angeles, what comes to mind is "peppertree", "acacia", "boulevard", and "seaspray". I hope this is helpful to you and I'm looking forward to hearing more about your book. :)
~ Tara