Monday, April 2, 2012

There's A Trope For That - Week of April 1

This Week's Trope: One Steve Limit


"A pretty rigid rule that no two characters in a work of fiction (novel, movie, play, TV series, comic book, etc.) should share the same first name, or even similar-sounding names. If there's a Laura in the story, there will not be a Lyra; if there's an Ed, there will not be a Ted. (If you wake up one morning and suddenly discover that you don't know any two people with the same first name and that your phone number begins with 555, you can safely assume you've fallen into a work of fiction.) The rationale behind this is so obvious it almost doesn't need explanation: Both the audience and the writer will get confused by multiple characters with the same name."

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When it comes to books, I totally respect this. Be creative! Use all the letters of the alphabet and make a character Zola and another Quentin and still another Kitty Marie, but don't go mixing me up by naming all your characters things that will confound my brain!

Yeah, except I totally ignored the rule in my novel. To heck with it, I said! And so there's a Davin and Daniel, a Lyric and a Lisa, and a Karis and a Kelsey. *checking to see if I care, now*NOPE!

In conclusion, name your characters whatever you want!

Okay, actually, scratch that, don't name anybody Jebediah; I hate that name.

Unless the story is set in 1862 and Jebediah carries a shotgun and a pickaxe, is missing five teeth, and has just sent away for a mail-order bride from the east. If that is the case, you have my blessing.

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