Join me, Jane Cleland, as we unravel the magic of character names and their hidden depths in storytelling.
We’ll explore how a name can subtly hint at a character’s personality or fate, drawing from my own Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries and examining Colleen Hoover’s fascinating exploration of truth in _Verity_.
Tune in to discover how to weave this subtle art into your own narratives.
Jane Cleland here.
Can I use a character’s names to hint at their personalities or destinies? Yes. I like the idea and I do it myself. For example, in my Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries, the police chief is Ellis Hunter – Chief Hunter. He’s the number one hunter of killers. I thought that was a good choice… an interesting choice.
Colleen Hoover’s book “Verity” – well, verity relates to the Latin word veritas, which means truth or reality. We have adopted it in English… evolved…. It has evolved in our English language to verify, vary. So, Verity is an interesting use of the implication of the truth.
That’s the… one of the main character’s names is Verity. And what’s interesting is that the book is thematically about the anatomy of truth. How you can tell who’s telling the truth. Whether you can ever know into someone’s heart about what is true. The reasons people lie, mislead, shade the truth. It’s an interesting and complex story. Well named, I thought, by that main character, Verity.
I’m sure you can pick names that are exactly right for what you are trying to achieve. I know you can do it!
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