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| Bram Stoker's (1847-1912) Notes on the personal for his novel Dracula. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Roses
will always smell sweet. I can't say the same about characters who seem to be strung
up on hubris by default.
In
fiction, the names given to characters are almost as important as the theme of
the story. That fact is beyond dispute. You have to make character names as
memorable as character traits.
A
vampire that stalks the night who goes by the name Dracula would strike terror
into the hearts of folks long before his true form is revealed. Consider Lord
Voldermort in the Harry Porter series. And the fact that the villain's name was
altered after he turned and became a twisted sorcerer.
In
real life, in fiction even in scripture, names have featured elaborately in
programming the mindset of its bearer as well as those of the people around
them. Readers would root for heroes with memorable and likable names. But there
are rare moments when an heroic feat hauls an otherwise ordinary name into a
threshold of heroism.
It's art and in this realm,
rules are flimsy things.
As
precaution, make an habit of giving your protagonists admirable names and then
tag your villains and anti-heroes with horror-inducing names unless you know, to do otherwise, would sell your story
faster.
A
rose by any other name will smell sweet but a character on the same basis will
definitely suck. That's food for thought.
Keep
your pen bleeding.
Akpan
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