A post on crafting the perfect character names for your short story has received a lot of views this year. So I’m revising it since it’s been seven years since I wrote the original post and I’ve learned a few things about writing in the intervening years.
Because of a short story’s limited word count, creating names for short story characters is more important than just hanging an identifying label on them. You can convey a lot about their personalities is a tiny space by picking the perfect name.
In my short story, “Bovine”, the main character is a snobby New York novelist up to no good. I wanted even his name to sound snobby, so I went with Harrison Sharpe. Harrison is not a common, it’s long, and sounds very formal, perfect for my elitist novelist. Sharpe actually reveals his acid-tongued personality and the “e” on the end looks pretentious, like the man.
His wife is a supermodel. So I created an unusual first name, one that was memorable enough that she could use it alone, like Beyonce or Cher, and people would recognize her. I went with Ariella. Her husband calls her Ari. Nicknames make a character seem more real and down to earth. Many of us have nicknames for our loved ones. Ari has no nickname for Harrison, which hints at how snobby he really is.
Speaking of nicknames–in a short story, they can be a quick way for a writer to reveal what one character thinks of another. When Harrison Sharpe thinks about Sheriff Malinowski, he refers to him as the Blond Ox. That not only describes the character but shows better than any lengthy internal monologue Harrison’s contempt for the man. For more on using nicknames in your writing, see my post “Lesson #1 from The Deer on a Bicycle.“
Here are more posts with tips for writing short stories.
If you’re a writer, how do you create the perfect names for your characters? Readers, what are some of your favorite literary names?
