Post by account_disabled on Dec 20, 2023 22:34:19 GMT -5
I have always found a certain difficulty in giving names to the characters in my stories. The problem was finding names that worked. To tell the truth, every name works, since it exists, but for some obscure reason, to me those names had to – and still have to – be credible, appear beautiful, represent the character perfectly. The names of the characters should not be chosen at random, for pure personal pleasure. It would be a very serious mistake, which would affect the success and credibility of the story. A writer must choose the names of his characters according to the historical and geographical context of the story he is writing.
To give an example, you cannot call Jessica and Damian two boys who live in a rural village in the Sicilian hinterland at the beginning of the 19th century. Such a choice would not be valid. Likewise, it must be considered that some names are more characteristic in the south, while others in the north, as are surnames. You can also place a Vanin in Gela in 1902, but you Special Data must justify it appropriately. Alessandro Manzoni had already thought of this when he chose the names of his main protagonists, the betrothed , so to speak. And in this regard, essays have been written on the so-called "Manzonian onomastics", for those who wish to delve deeper into the topic. Each name had to adapt to the character both for the environment in which he was born and for his character.
Remember Manzoni's previous choice to call the betrothed "Fermo". The choice of names, therefore, is part of the documentation : an essential element of the story. The names not only complement the characters, but help make the setting more real. Simply because they are part of it. How to find the right name for a character Documenting . But where? The sources can be different. Here I indicate a couple of them, the ones I used for some stories. But there are others. Cemeteries : it's not a question of being macabre, even if I am, but of being logical. I set some stories around the Second World War, in some towns in the Roman province.
To give an example, you cannot call Jessica and Damian two boys who live in a rural village in the Sicilian hinterland at the beginning of the 19th century. Such a choice would not be valid. Likewise, it must be considered that some names are more characteristic in the south, while others in the north, as are surnames. You can also place a Vanin in Gela in 1902, but you Special Data must justify it appropriately. Alessandro Manzoni had already thought of this when he chose the names of his main protagonists, the betrothed , so to speak. And in this regard, essays have been written on the so-called "Manzonian onomastics", for those who wish to delve deeper into the topic. Each name had to adapt to the character both for the environment in which he was born and for his character.
Remember Manzoni's previous choice to call the betrothed "Fermo". The choice of names, therefore, is part of the documentation : an essential element of the story. The names not only complement the characters, but help make the setting more real. Simply because they are part of it. How to find the right name for a character Documenting . But where? The sources can be different. Here I indicate a couple of them, the ones I used for some stories. But there are others. Cemeteries : it's not a question of being macabre, even if I am, but of being logical. I set some stories around the Second World War, in some towns in the Roman province.
