Thursday, October 08, 2009

Adventures in Great


In fiction, there is a great difference between great characters and great names. Great characters inspire me to write. Great names are poetic and romantic. They inspire me to write real great.

There are dozens and dozens of great fictional names (here’s a hundred examples). But there are only a few daring names; magical names that drive you to embrace that character. Dancing names that twinkle and leave you breathless. Thrilling and creative names that make me wish I had given my kids such a name. Here are the only three that have really captured me so far. Every time I see/hear one of them, my thoughts stop and my dream light lights me up.

My favorite fictional names.
  • Lightfoot McLendon, Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns, 1984
  • Cat Dancing, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, by Marilyn Durham, 1972
  • Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, by Truman Capote, 1958
All women, by the way.

How about you? Do you have a favorite fictional name? And why that name?

9 comments:

kenju said...

Rhett Butler comes to mind...for his strength and popularity with the women! LOL

Jennie said...

Pippi Longstocking
Robinson Crusoe
Eeyore
Boo Radley
Clarissa Dalloway
(I cheated because my memory cells are on low)
Word Ver: sulist

cassie-b said...

from an old tv series -
Marcus Welby - Make us well?

Senorita said...

Hi Paul, I don't have a fictional name at the moment, I just got called in very early at work. I will let you know if anything comes to mind later.

Thanks for your comment about my personality on my blog ! Your daughter must be one cool woman, lol. We are Sagittariuses. We love a good sense of humor, and are opinionated. We are also very nice people.

Scarlet said...

Before I even got to the middle of the second paragraph I was already thinking Holly Golightly. Love that name! :)

PS - How about Norman Bates?? lol (J/K!) I've always loved the named Eloise because of the book by Kay Thompson about a precocious 6-year old girl staying at the Plaza Hotel.

Mom said...

Does Hopalong Cassidy count as great fiction?
I finally wrote a post about the 5 words you assigned me. It was a hard exercise for me.

j said...

My five word challeng is up!

Fictional character names...

Junie B. Jones
Ramona Quimby
Beezus Quimby
Nancy Drew
Mary Lennox
Daisy Fay Harper

I hope that you are having a great weekend!

groovyoldlady said...

"His name was Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it."

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