I’ve written about this before but I’m just going to give it a quick look again.

When I’m writing I may give a character the name of one of my friends because I suck at naming characters and I don’t want to loose my momentum, but as I’m writing these characters can often feel rather empty. I can’t find what their purpose is. I’ve heard a lot of writers saying that each character, no matter how insignificant, is the hero of their own story. They have their own dreams and ambitions, their own daemons they are fighting. Even if we as readers never see that we as writers need to know it as it adds to the depth of the story.
Sometimes though I can’t find that, I’ll write the parts involving the character and as I said, it feels empty. But then I give the character a name and everything changes. I hear their voice, I see how they look and I know exactly what they are after. I remember an Ex totally disagreeing with me on this. She said a name didn’t mean anything. I’m not sure if this is a writer thing, or a me thing but I think a name can be a huge part of someone’s identity. I have never been fond of my name, but my nickname I love. I feel much happier being addressed by my nickname then my actual name. It feels like the real me.

A name is a huge part of who we are and from a writing point of view it helps me create a character. What do you think?

I finished reading His Only Star by Christopher Stocking last night. Amazing read. It really struck a nerve with me and I recommend that you check it out. Next read is the final Hunger Games book, and I’m starting on listening to the audiobooks I brought with the iTunes vouchers I got for my birthday. First will be World War Z by Max Brooks.

I also got the first book that I ordered from amazon yesterday 🙂 which I added to the two I brought in Waterstones on Sunday. I’ve still got five to get here 🙂 Ill go into exactly what I’ve brought in a later post.

And last night me and a friend went and saw Iron Man 3. Really good, although I prefer the second movie personally, but it was still very good and I will be buying it on DVD when it’s out.