Is it too late to change a character in the story?
I have this chimera-type character whose name is Ryu, but at this point I think it best to change his name. But I've already grown used to his name, and I've written it all over my book pages. Is it too late to completely change his name?
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1 answer
I'd say change it, you don't need permission.
At first, I was going to ask in comment What is your motivation for changing the name?
But then I realized that did not matter, if you are inclined to change it at this point, then I suspect the existing name doesn't really fit the character for some reason, he doesn't seem like a "Ryu" to you.
I would agree with others that your character needs a name plausible for whatever culture he was born in, but I presume like most cultures I am familiar with, Japanese names seem to evoke certain personalities. This can be used to play against reader expectations, but that can get tiresome for readers. Usually it is better to stick to knitting and give a name that fits their personality. IRL our names can actually influence our personality.
As a discovery writer myself, I may very well change a character's name a quarter way through a story, because they ended up being a different kind of person than what I originally envisioned. As soon as my writing has found what I feel is a "real person", I go through my naming resources and find something better, than rewrite. Not just to change the name, but from the beginning to change their voice, their attitude, humor, word choices, reactions and emotions, to fit with the "real person" I discovered.
I think of this as metaphorically "growing up," IRL our adult self is shaped by our experiences and trials of our youth. For my adult characters at the beginning of the story they have no such experiences, but as the story progresses I see how they must react (by my logic) to fill their role correctly.
In your position, for example, I may know Ryu is a chimera, but it was not until I put a chimera into conflicts, relationships, family and perhaps romantic situations, and thinking through what a chimera "would really do" in such circumstances, that I see how his personality would have adapted to his abilities, his sense of humor, and how he sees the world. I find some plausible consistency in that, and Okay, then I have a real person, and now (on behalf of the reader) I want a name that better implies his personality.
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