What's in a (Nick)name?
I have one of those names, Erica, that doesn't rhyme with anything. My family (Mom, Dad, sisters, childhood best friend) call me Er. But that's about it as far as nicknames. My significant other calls me Elvis, but that's another story.
But in the interest of "Show, Don't Tell," my characters nearly ALL have nicknames or pet names. It's a wonderful device to delineate relationships, closeness, personality.
Examples?
Lewis LeBarge calls Billie Quinn "Wilhemina." Her real name actually is Billie--and he knows it. This shows their playful, teasing nature with each other.
In The Roofer, Tom calls Ava "Baby," in a sort of "Baby, please," girlfriend way. Except he's her BROTHER. Enough said. (Those references bothered my Writers' Group AND readers who emailed me more than nearly anything in that book--including the claw hammer scene! I definitely hit on a nerve there.)
In Mafia Chic, Teresa Gallo is the only granddaughter among 17 grandsons of the last of the old-time mafia dons. And the family calls her "Teddi" because her grandfather, who spoils her, always calls her his "Teddy bear." What better way to show her status as a little girl among men (even though she's now in her 20s).
In Double Down, T.D., a huge linebacker and recovering gambling addict, calls Skye McNalley, a semi-recovering gambling addict "Little Girl." In one key scene, he assaults someone he thinks has harmed her, decking him and asking, "What have you done with my Little Girl?" BUT . . . key . . . he's the ONLY one allowed to call her that. Their relationship isn't romantic. It goes beyond that. It's a love that's so intense in a brother-sister way (in the GOOD way, not in the Tom and Ava way).
I could go on and on. I use it almost all the time, and the nicknames and pet names I give my characters are way more important, to me, than their given names--because chances are I won't use their given names much and will instead, in dialogue, rely on these clues.
It's like when you got in trouble when you were a kid and your mom used the dreaded middle name (my oldest says, "Oh God, you're middle naming me, what's the problem?!"). When my trannie in Diary of a Blues Goddess is taking Georgia to task, she snaps, "Georgia Ray Miller!!"
Show don't tell. And one way is to tell volumes with a name.
How about you?
But in the interest of "Show, Don't Tell," my characters nearly ALL have nicknames or pet names. It's a wonderful device to delineate relationships, closeness, personality.
Examples?
Lewis LeBarge calls Billie Quinn "Wilhemina." Her real name actually is Billie--and he knows it. This shows their playful, teasing nature with each other.
In The Roofer, Tom calls Ava "Baby," in a sort of "Baby, please," girlfriend way. Except he's her BROTHER. Enough said. (Those references bothered my Writers' Group AND readers who emailed me more than nearly anything in that book--including the claw hammer scene! I definitely hit on a nerve there.)
In Mafia Chic, Teresa Gallo is the only granddaughter among 17 grandsons of the last of the old-time mafia dons. And the family calls her "Teddi" because her grandfather, who spoils her, always calls her his "Teddy bear." What better way to show her status as a little girl among men (even though she's now in her 20s).
In Double Down, T.D., a huge linebacker and recovering gambling addict, calls Skye McNalley, a semi-recovering gambling addict "Little Girl." In one key scene, he assaults someone he thinks has harmed her, decking him and asking, "What have you done with my Little Girl?" BUT . . . key . . . he's the ONLY one allowed to call her that. Their relationship isn't romantic. It goes beyond that. It's a love that's so intense in a brother-sister way (in the GOOD way, not in the Tom and Ava way).
I could go on and on. I use it almost all the time, and the nicknames and pet names I give my characters are way more important, to me, than their given names--because chances are I won't use their given names much and will instead, in dialogue, rely on these clues.
It's like when you got in trouble when you were a kid and your mom used the dreaded middle name (my oldest says, "Oh God, you're middle naming me, what's the problem?!"). When my trannie in Diary of a Blues Goddess is taking Georgia to task, she snaps, "Georgia Ray Miller!!"
Show don't tell. And one way is to tell volumes with a name.
How about you?
posted by Erica Orloff at 7:02 AM
17 Comments:
I'm working on a short story from the POV of the guy who loves my female protag in another book.
It wasn't until I started on the short story that I realised that he didn't call her by the shortened form of her name like everybody else did.
Robin D. Owens, in Heart Duel, had her hero try out each and every one of the heroine's names (she's got many middle names), and it ties into the story very well.
Agreed, agreed, agreed!
I once had a (secondary) character balk at the name I gave him. Turns out he was a lot more important than I thought.
In the last book I turned in all the heroines had guy nicknames as well as 'girl' nicknames for specific reasons. In another story, the hero is the only one who calls the heroine by her full given name.
When they were in Junior High, Nicholas Colt's best friend Joe Crawford started calling him "Colt Revolver." The nickname was eventually shortened to "Re."
Joe is the only person who calls him that.
I have several nicknames. Hannibal. Neil Armstrong. The Gangster of Love.
One of my friends at work calls me "Marshall Dillon." We do a little Matt/Festus routine sometimes. Boys will be boys, you know. :)
Hi May:
I like that "specialness" factor between love interests in names.
E
Hi Amie:
I think it's a great device. It can show so much about a relationship. A depth to it . . . or the age of it (like if someone knows a childhood name and no one else does.
E
Jude:
You Gangsta, you . . . :-)
E
P.S. Tuesday's my say good-bye to coffee day. I see the Chinese medicine doc on Monday, and I plan on having a good-bye cup. Smoke away on Monday, my friend. Tuesday we both go cold turkey.
In my WIP, my MC calls the woman he ends up falling in love with 'babe' a few times, until she lets him have an earfull. She always uses his given name, until they fall in love and then has to be careful not to do it publically and give away the relationship.
Good luck on Tuesday. I'm not ready to give up the coffee yet, although I have gone half-caf... and I quit smoking, cold-turkey, over 11 years ago. My wife-to-be at the time said she wanted to spend as much time with me as possible in this life, and if I quit smoking we could be together longer. I tossed the cigs that day and will have been blissfully married 10 years as of tomorrow. It is really about choices and what you are willing to do for yourself and for others.
My favorite aunt use to call me Meeser Beeser. She did it all the way up until she died 3 years ago.
My mc has only one nickname. Lass. I haven't come up with any nice yet. ; )
ewoh:
Thanks for the good luck wishes. When I spoke to the doctor today, he asked why I was coming to see him . . . and I told him "it's time." :-) No more hiding in my vices. :-)
And congrats on the smoking thing--and TEN years! MANY, MANY more.
E
la:
I love little endearments. "Lass" is a good one. I'm five foot ten and change. "Cute" endearments don't seem to go with me. :-)
E
I'm five foot ten as well. I stood a good foot and half over my aunt but she always called me by my nickname.
I totally agree with you on the nicknames, but I have to admit, I don't seem to use them much beyond shortened versions of the characters' real names. Now that's gonna be something I feel compelled to do from now on. :)
The "Little Girl" thing, about only HE gets to call her that, is pretty common, I think. Common enough to be cliché if not done right (Little Girl is definitely done right *g*). One instance I LOVE is in Supernatural. Dean calls his little brother (who's about four inches taller than he is) "Sammy." At first, Sam keeps telling him, "It's Sam." Later in the season, he doesn't correct him, but in two eps someone else calls him that, and he says, "Don't...call...me...Sammy," and it's always situations where he uses the annoyance as power (like in pulling a pipe off a wall).
But the best use was this season, he and his brother are talking to a new hunter they just met, and the guy calls him Sammy, and his response--deadpan, without moving--is, "Only he gets to call me that." It's a very powerful indicator of his relationship with his brother and how he feels about the new guy.
Ummmm....is my Supernatural obsession showing? *sheepish grin*
Hi Natalie:
You know, my whole nickname thing . . . it definitely didn't start as something conscious. But now that I do it more often . . . there's a lot of thought that goes into it precisely because of relationship clues. I love your example. And yeah--the obsessions shows! LOL! :-)
E
My nickname is Nome, or Nomie. I can't think of anyone who calls me Naomi unless they're being formal or angry.
My main character is given the nickname "tiger" by a potential love interest - he thinks he's being cute, she thinks he's being obnoxious.
Naome:
And isn't that OFTEN the way of men? LOL! (Just kidding, Guys.)
E
No problem, babe. :)
Jude:
OK, Hot Stuff.
E
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