Dynamic Characters Read Online Free PDF Page A

she's older, however, Vida finds this choice too romantic and regrets it. One of her pleasures is calling her sister Natalie by her real name, thus reaffirming Vida's right to have a family even though she's been in hiding, cut off from mainstream life, for over ten years. Piercy got a lot of plot and thematic mileage out of this changing roadway of names.
    Ask yourself: What did my character choose to be called as a child? A teenager? At college? In the army? When he was part of a gang? In prison? After the divorce? In social situations? In professional ones? The man who insists that even his wife refer to him as ''the senator'' is characterizing himself loud and clear.
    THE NAME OTHERS CHOOSE FOR A CHARACTER
    The names others call your protagonist without his permission can also be used to create characterization, tension and plot developments. How will the child dubbed Stinky react? By running away? Laughing at his tormentors? Beating the shit out of anyone he can catch alone?
    Names imposed on others say something about the relationship. The woman who calls her mother-in-law ''Sally'' is assuming a different relationship than the one who calls her ''Mom,'' or ''Mrs. Jones.'' Consider what your character is called by his parents, children, children's friends, personal friends, enemies, colleagues, neighbors, lovers, the press and the local cops. Then consider whether these names might change over the course of the relationship. The man who is ''Bobby'' to his mistress but ''Robert'' when the affair is over has swapped a breezy, playful name for a more formal one. On the other hand, the man who is called Robert during the affair and Bobby when it's over has just been demoted to a child.
    Finally, as with names bestowed on a birth certificate, consider how your character feels about his or her nicknames. Is the businesswoman who usually goes by Elizabeth secretly delighted by the lover who dubs her Kitten? Does the high-school kid glory in being referred to as Slash? How far will he go to live up to that name?
    Here's Vida Asch again, in a striking illustration of just how much names matter:
    Joel grinned. ''I recognized you immediately. Vida Asch.'' He seemed to enjoy saying her name, while she experienced an automatic spurt of cold along her arteries. In contrast, he had been flattered when she called him by name— not frightened or at least startled as she had expected. That had not given her the commanding edge she had anticipated, but rather had eliminated some small advantage she had not been aware of.
    —Marge Piercy, Vida
    There is power in names. That is why some cultures reveal true names only to highly trusted intimates. But even in our informal American culture, eager to seize on the first names of total strangers, what we call each other has meaning. Exploit it.
    SUMMARY: NAMING YOUR CHARACTERS
    • Choose surnames that reflect your fictional world's ethnic diversity (or lack of it).
    • Choose first names that tell us something about this character's family's worldview, hopes and/or generation.
    • Choose nicknames that show us how the character is viewed by others.
    • Show us how the character reacts to her names and nicknames.
    • Use her reactions to fuel action—and so generate plot developments.
    So now your character has an appearance, a name, some personal tastes. Let's go back in time. He also has a background, a specific place he grew up and first encountered the world—which was, of course, only the version of the world accepted in his particular family in his particular hometown. This chapter will consider that hometown and the marks it has inescapably left on your protagonist. Even if he himself has left town, the town has left its mark on his character. It does on all of us. Place of birth is a lot more than just a phrase on your driver's license application. It's a clue to character.
    It can also be a surprisingly effective way to approach plotting.
    ''There are three rules for