Category: Characters & Setting

Naming, research, maps, and other fun.

But it’s research!

r-avatarThe new book, like its predecessor, is turning out to require significant research. Whereas the previous one was set in a real city, which meant we needed to get the details right, the new one registers a greater hardness on the sci-fi scale. That means more technical details to get right. So far we’ve needed in-depth information about algaculture, DNA chemistry, prison architecture, and single malt Scotch. (Not to mention a few Russian phrases.*)

This has led to a sense of bafflement at the idea of trying to accomplish anything without the Internet. But if Kent doesn’t soon get some sense of proportion about things, he might have to do just that. Jen threatens to turn off his Internet access a couple of times per week, in hopes of getting him to focus on the actual writing.

Being able to do research on any topic right from your desk saves hours that would otherwise go into trips to the library and other activities. It frees you to do spur of the moment “research” on any incidental question or topic the moment it arises, so you needn’t plan ahead what subject areas to explore.

The downside is that when research is so available it becomes a slippery slope. One quick search for the names of the four whisky producing regions of Scotland turns into a whole afternoon of reading articles, studying maps, and of course shopping for the perfect dram (something just a wee peaty). Staying productive means having the discipline to get in and out of research mode efficiently. In a collaboration, sometimes one partner needs to give the other a nudge back toward the manuscript.

How do you approach research for your fiction? How do you know when you’ve collected enough information to write your technical scenes convincingly?

*Oops! Now we’ve given away the whole plot!

Worth A Thousand Words

At this point in our process we have most of the preliminary work done, and are simply filling in details as we get ramped up for the actual Writing of the First Draft (cue fanfare of harps). We have our cast of characters, all of whom have fantastic names, and we just need to agree about their physical descriptions so we can both write effectively.

We could just say “Mary has blue eyes and brown hair. She’s tall.” But that leaves too much room for interpretation. We could say, “Mary is pretty,” but, again, that’s too open ended. Both Cate Blanchett and Reese Witherspoon are pretty and blonde, but they don’t look much alike.

Google image search to the rescue! We like to scour the internet to find pictures of people who resemble our characters. It’s not procrastination, honest! Sometimes there’s one person who is a good match, and sometimes we have to make our own Franken-celebrity, combining body parts from several different people to make the perfect inspiration. It’s not as creepy as it sounds.

Once we have some example photos, we are able to envision the character the same way, and describe them consistently. And of course we don’t just say, “Mary looked like Scarlett Johansson,” because that would be cheating.

By Any Other Name

Recently we talked about naming the setting for our new novel, but we haven’t talked much about naming characters. Up until we mentioned it, you probably didn’t even realize that characters should have names, right?

Obviously you know that your characters need good names, and that the names need to fit the genre you’re writing in. Instead of harping on that, or trying to explain what makes a good character name, we’re going to talk about how we come to an agreement on names for our characters.

In a nutshell, Jen does it. Kent has, shall we say, questionable taste in names. He’s usually happy to just pull a name out of the air and saddle some poor character with it forever. Jen, as we’ve mentioned before, loves backstory in every form, and will happily sit for hours poring over baby name books and websites in search of a name with the right feel for the new character. She gets to name the characters because she cares more.

That’s not to say that Jen has absolute authority over character names. Kent has veto power (usually), and even makes the occasional suggestion. Once she’s done making faces and explaining why his suggestion is wrong, Jen pats Kent on the head, rolls up her sleeves, and gets to work.

There are times when a character is presented to Kent with a complete name attached. More often, Jen will create a list of potential name combinations and together we will discuss pros and cons. For this new work, Sam was on the table as a possibility, but it turns out that pretty much whatever surname you put with that, Kent thinks it sounds like a noir detective. Since none of our characters are noir detectives, that ruled Sam out.

This process is another way to make sure you and your writing partner have the same image of a character. If one of you wants to name the heroine Felicity Fairchild and the other thinks she ought to be called Jinx, there’s a fundamental disconnect that needs to be rectified before you jump into composition. Iron out these bugs before you start and you’ll save yourselves a lot of headaches come editing time.

If neither you nor your partner have the naming bug, you could say that whoever creates the character, or writes their debut scene, gets the honor (or chore) of naming them. What method do you and your writing partner use?

Mapping things out

One of the most important elements of a compelling story is setting. The locale for your tale is almost like a member of the cast, lending its personality and helping to establish the tone.

As with all other aspects of the project, the setting must be agreed upon by both writing partners. Shouldn’t be too hard, but it’s a good idea to sketch out some maps so you know you’re both working from the same image. Knowing how long it would take to get from A to B can be a vital plot point. If one partner pictures the stadium at the south end of town, and the other sees it as the central fixture of the downtown district, then they’ll surely run into difficulties lining up their edits.

This week Kent drew up detailed maps of the city (see, we told you he contributes!), an exercise that also allowed us to use some of the extra name ideas left over after we chose the appellation for the town. Now that we have that well in hand, with color-coded neighborhoods and labelled points of interest, we’ve moved on to laying out the complex of buildings where most of the events will unfold. It’s based on a real place, and we’re planning a field trip to get a real feel for it and get inspired. Believe me, this is not a place you’d want to visit solo, so it’s further proof that a writing collaborator is a good thing to have.

What’s in a name?

We’re trying to come up with a name for the city where our story takes place.

The novel before this one is set in Manhattan, so there was very little naming of places required. The neighborhoods and streets all have names already, and there are myriad restaurants, boutiques, businesses, and landmarks to call on for flavor. That’s not to say that we didn’t have to make anything up. We invented a few locations to suit our purposes and then we had to name them.

This time, though, we’re back to founding our own city, which gives us the fun honor (or dreaded chore, you decide) of naming absolutely everything.

Naming is a special art, whether it’s characters or places or the story itself. Not everyone has the gift for it. In our case, Jen definitely has the touch. So in our workaday partnership activities, naming stuff is one of her primary duties. (Kent has other talents. Honest.)

But for whatever reason, in this case we’re teaming up on the toponym issue. Jen named the whole cast already, so maybe she was just tuckered out. It’s neat to kick ideas back and forth and watch how your partner reacts. It’s a good way to tell if you’re on the same page in regards to the flavor. If one of you wants to call the place Kitten Basket* while the other favors Death River*, there’s a disconnect somewhere and it’s better to get that sorted out early on. One of the beneficial side-effects to our collaboration and brainstorming has been that the place’s history is starting to take shape, because some of the name concepts are so evocative. But we still haven’t chosen a name!

*Not actually under consideration. Feel free to use it yourself.