Monday, May 17, 2010

CI 5410 Week 9.2 - Chapter 3, exercise 14; "Naming Your Characters"

The following creative examples are from Bernays' and Painter's (1990) exercise titled Naming Your Characters. In this exercise, B&P caution writers against simply pulling names out of a hat when naming their characters. Instead, B&P challenge writers to carefully consider how the names they give their characters help convey a sense of a particular character's role in your fiction (42). To practice this calculated selection of character names, B&P challenge the writer to assign names that "fit" the bellow character types.

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A petty, white-collar thief who robs his boss over several years:

  • Marcus Conroy
  • Seth Pierce
  • Gordon Chilling

An envious, bitter woman who makes her sister miserable by systematically trying to undercut her pleasure and self-confidence:

  • Carolyn Bender
  • Danielle Lynche
  • Selma Thorne

A sweet young man too shy to speak to an attractive woman he sees every day at work:

  • Miles Quinn
  • William Greene
  • Rick Filipkowski

The owner of a fast-food restaurant who comes on to his young female employees:

  • Lou Piles
  • Frank Boyle

A grandmother who just won the lottery:

  • Mable Bodewell
  • Beatrice Sykes

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