Creating character names for your novel.
I first encountered an image of the mythological Lilith years ago during a tour of The Cloisters Museum in Upper Manhattan. I was baffled by the concept that Adam had a wife before Eve. My curiosity was piqued. Here’s a brief backstory of Lilith: According to Jewish mythology, God created both a man and a woman from the same earthen material. Lilith was head-strong and refused to submit to Adam’s will. Adam whined to God (my interpretation), while Lilith started hanging around with the archangels (Adam, it seemed, bored her). God banished Lilith from Eden and created Eve from Adam’s rib, thereby making her subservient to Adam. In Lilith, I found my first character … with a twist.
Rather than have my Lilith emerge as an independent, defiant, headstrong woman, I gave those qualities to her mother, Kate. Influenced during her teen years by events of the late sixties and early seventies, Kate is a self-sufficient Lilith-type character, with some interesting quirks. When she gives birth to a daughter, Kate names her Lilith in hopes the child would clone her own values and leanings. Instead, I created Lilith not as an echo of Kate, but as a counter-balance. Lilith develops into a reserved, conservative voice to contrast Kate’s proclivity to snoop, cause havoc, and flirt with any man she can use to further her intensions.
When you are creating character names for your novel, keep in mind that personalities are known to skip a generation. The final character in the trio of amateur sleuths for my novels became Lilith’s daughter, Alexa. I was rapt with the name Alexa from my teen years. One of my older sister’s classmates bore the name (short for Alexandra) and was raised by free-thinking parents to become one of the first “hippies” in our high school. The Alexa I developed shares Kate’s liberal lifestyle choices.
With my third book, “Grey to Black”, I felt the pull to introduce a strong male protagonist. I imagined him close to Lilith’s age, in his mid-forties. As a former police detective, he needed a name aligned with his past profession. Several came to mind, but I settled on Sam Trooper, a nod to the title of officers who work at the State level (i.e., State Trooper). My male protagonist goes by the nickname “Troop” — concise, masculine, memorable.
Assigning names to characters can be tricky. When creating character names for your novel, try to avoid complicated names that will stop the reader and detract from the plot. No sense running the risk of readers tripping over how to pronounce a name. Likewise, rhyming and similar-sounding names (e.g., Tom and Tim) can confuse readers. For instance, with Kate as a major player, I tossed aside the name “Nate” in favor of “Nick” when writing “Secrets of the Charles”.
Unless the setting of a novel calls for exotic, indigenous, or complex names, my advice is to keep it simple. Your readers will appreciate all the effort you put in with creating character names.
About the author Susan Boyd: Susan writes cozy mysteries that make good summer-time reads. About the author Susan Boyd: Her first novel, “Secrets of the Charles“, was a first-place winner of the 2010 Royal Palm Literary Awards. Her third novel, “Grey to Black“, won two Royal Palm Literary Awards. She is also the author of “Secrets Hid Lies“.Susan resides in central Florida. She is currently working on her fifth novel set to release soon.