What should I do when I am stuck on names during freewriting?

Keep a list of names

Early in Time Clare's writing podcast Couch to 80k he sets the reader a task of spending 10 minutes inventing names.

I loathe and detest coming up with names, and was dreading it. But I found that approaching the job as an end in itself, with no particular goal in mind, very liberating, and I easily jotted down a page full.

He then invites the listener to look over the list and see if any of them suggest a character. But he also points out that such a list is extremely useful to have around if you're writing and suddenly need the name of an incidental character.

So: write a list. Keep it around. You might find it more fun and more useful than it sounds.

posted over 6 years ago

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Bob Tway‭

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I seems to me that no one really took into account that we are talking about freewriting.

The whole point of freewriting is that you don't stop to reflect, but write down your stream of consciousness without editing it in any way.

From the rule that, while freewriting, you shouldn't correct orthography, find the right words, or even force yourself to stay on topic, but write whatever comes into your mind, it follows that regarding names you should also use whichever label comes to your mind first: a name ("Peter"), a characterisation ("the man"), or a placeholder ("M") – and then write on. You will know who you refer to, even if that label changes in the course of writing, and you will remember who you thought of when you revise your text later.

posted over 6 years ago

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System‭

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An issue I occasionally encounter in my DnD games is naming NPCs... Typically I have to consider race and region, but for when I'm writing (usually short stories and aborted epics, lol) I tend to drop in the first name that comes to mind with a vowel tacked to the end, and when I proofread I make sure I'm not duplicating a name. If not, I drop the vowel, if I am, I take time to consider something else then. Saves my momentum for the actual writing.

posted over 6 years ago

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wolf‭

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I often face the same problem with finding names, not just for characters, but also for places, titles, etc. In such cases, I use a temporary name, and specific markup, to make those temporary names easy to find later. For example

{Alpha} and {Bravo} lived in {TownName} town, {X} leagues from {CapitalName}. {Alpha}'s parents...

When I find a name, this system makes it easy to find and replace, without accidentally replacing something I don't want to. And I can easily go over a document, search for { tags, to see what I still need to name.

Another thing I do is I keep around a list of names that sort of work for my setting, and for minor characters, at least, I pick one at random. I can always change it later, right? Where do I get the list? Names I come across, and like the sound of. I do research for whatever I'm writing, I run across relevant names, I write them down.

The thing you don't want to do is sit around for days, not continuing your story because you can't find a name. Like you say, it kills momentum completely.

posted over 6 years ago

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Galastel‭

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This is a useful book, Writer's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook. Each name comes with its original translation of meaning (although some are just 'mythical mother of Jason', or a few per page 'unknown origin'.)

This is a useful website of many links to online naming resources, baby names, character naming apps, etc. Writing World Links to Naming Resources.

With or without a book or online assistance; start a note page for your names with the Alphabet listed, one letter per line. This is both to remember the names you have used, and help you come up with new ones.

A,B,C,D etc.

When you need a name, look at your existing list of names.

For "important" characters (those appearing in more than one scene), try to pick an unused starting letter, or if that is not possible, at least be sure to get a name that sounds (out loud) and looks (in print) distinct from other names starting with the same letter, whether male or female. If you have "Dean", don't use "Deana" or "Diane" or "Dana" or "Dino". But "Drake" would be fine, or "Dimitry". No pair from "Tory" and "Tony" and "Troy".

Star (*) the names of your "important" characters.

Less important for reader memory is minor characters that they only need to remember for the scene (if they have names at all). For minor characters, it is best if they have unique names, but less important if they happen to be similar to a main character name. I always avoid ANY character name starting with the same letter as my main character, which I also aim to give a fairly rare name. If I name her Alicia (I never have), no other character has a name starting with "A", even if it would sound completely different.

posted over 6 years ago

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Amadeus‭

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I always feel that names are a big problem for me and coming up with some meaningful names that sound pleasant is one of the hardest parts of writing for me. That's why I never stop to come up with a name.

Before starting to write I normally have a plan for the next few pages at least and I know which characters will come up and what they will basically be doing. Then I use one of their main character traits or characteristics to come up with a name by using Google Translator with different languages until something interesting comes up. You can read more about my technique in my answer to What are good resources to get fantasy names?. That way I have an interesting name that I can use and that is likely so unique that I can relatively easily replace it later if I find a better name.

"Search and Replace" of your word processing software is likely a big help in this, but you have to be careful. For example in German saying "Tims Antwort ist gut" ("Tim's answer is good") and replacing "Tim" with "Secespitus" would yield "Secespituss Antwort ist gut" - which is wrong, as it should say "Secespitus' Antwort ist gut".

Furthermore the name can be part of a bigger name, like "Tim" could be part of "Timothy" and if you only want to replace "Tim" with "Dean" you would end up with "Deanothy" - which might be an interesting name, but not your originally desired result. Especially when you have a lot of different characters you should be careful. And at the same time you should be careful that if you want "Tim" and "Timothy" to be the same person you would have to rewrite the parts where for example the longer name is used - it might be a rhetorical device, like an angry mother calling her child by its full name, and you might want to preserve this when changing the name.

You should only replace each instance individually and not all at the same time to not run into these problems.

If you are writing and suddenly you introduce a new character that you haven't thought of you shouldn't stop - just use the first thing to make a placeholder that is easy to find later. ShadowMan, MagicLady, CreepyGrandma, BigFurryMonster, NiceButCreepyBoy, ... - everything is fine as long as it's easy to find.

That way you can stay in the flow and continue with the important stuff to know how your characters act and behave - which will allow you to more easily come up with a useful name for them. You have to learn about your character first before you can give him a fitting name. And to learn about your character you have to write something that he is part of. It's completely normal to leave the naming for later, for example the first revision.

posted over 6 years ago

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Secespitus‭

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