In what order should I name characters?
I was wondering if there is a rule or advice in which order to name my characters.
For example, if I want to tell that Bob, John and Rob entered the room should I just name them in random order or is there something else I need to consider?
I am writing in third person limited if that`s relevant.
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2 answers
You are writing in the order that is important in that situation. There is no clear rule and you can vary from situation to situation.
For example you could simply start with the first one to enter the room:
Bob was the first to get to the party. A few minutes later John appeared and both of them started talking, when Rob made his entry, loudly announcing his presence as always.
If they appear at the same time you can use this to change the order from the one that will be noticed by other people first.
Rob was the first everyone saw - or hear to be precise. Everybody knew he loved to make a show out of everything and wanted to stand in the spotlight wherever he went. John and Bob were the silent type, talking with each other and entering the room right behind Rob, who was already walking towards the buffet.
You should not just randomly throw names around. Every character has something that makes them important and some personality traits. These need to be shown to the reader and the first appearance is an important situation where you need to make these character traits obvious.
Of course you can also name all three of them first and then start to describe each of them. In such a case you should keep the order in which they were introduced:
Bob, John and Rob entered the party. Bob was the loud one, announcing his presence to everyone that could hear him. John on the other hand was always very silent, trying to stick to the shadows and hoping that nobody would talk to him. Rob was the middle-ground and slowly took a look around to see who was already there.
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Reverse order of importance.
The order of entry is an opportunity for you to create conflict.
To do that, you should list them in the order of reaction by the MC, greatest last, so you can move into describing that reaction.
If I say "Bob, John and Rob entered" but my MC truly hates (or loves) Bob, it is unlikely the MC even noticed John and Rob behind Bob, and it feels odd to note that detail without any emotion and then switch back to an emotional reaction to seeing Bob.
If I say "John, Rob and Bob entered," I can follow that seamlessly with any emotional reaction to Bob we want.
If the MC doesn't really have much reaction to any of them, presumably somebody there is important to the story later; I would make them last, and have the MC notice something innocuous about them (the shirt Bob is wearing, or he got a new haircut or finally shaved that stupid goatee, etc). This locks the character in the reader's mind much more than just a name, and allows an easy intro later when Bob has something to say: The MC can comment on whatever they noticed was new about Bob.
Again, describing that noteworthy detail about Bob is easier if Bob is the last named character.
If none of these characters really matter later in the story, and the MC is neutral on all of them, the order doesn't matter. Unless you need them for filler in a party, I'd just leave them out.
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