What's In A Name? Some advice for fan fiction writers.

[Ken Cheng]

Ken here with some observations...directed at no specific writers, but as a (hopefully) friendly piece of advice for all writers.

Many of the writers here use familiar actors and actresses as the templates for their characters. Fair enough. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

One thought, however: many writers use the real names of the actors and actresses for their characters. I say: exercise your creativity. Put in a little more effort to create original names for your characters. Not only will this help to distinguish your characters from the actors/actresses you envision as portraying them, but it will also lend greater depth to their characters.

The great fiction writers often named their characters with incisive thought and inspired creativity. It's a wonderful thing to see as a reader, and an even more wonderful experience to have as a writer. When you name a character, that character truly becomes *yours*, and the character's identity truly becomes his/hers.

So let's give it some thought, folks: if you've come as far as writing and submitting your fanfic, do it as best you can by properly naming your characters.

[magnoliaewan]

I'll tell you why I use the actors'/actress' real name in my fan fiction. I find when I read fan fiction with original names, I always have to go back and look to see who the actor/actress for that character is because it gives me a visual of the character. When there are a lot of characters, it becomes very annoying to always have to refer back to the forewords, etc. to remember who the actors are. So, personally, I like fan fics that has the real actors' names because it helps me visualize the actor without having to go back and look it up all the time.

One more thing, I find it really hard to keep chinese names straight because they are all one syllable words so at times, they all start to look the same and I find it a little confusing and tedious. For some reason, when you hear it being said while watching a movie, it's not as tedious and confusing as reading chinese names.

[Ken Cheng]

I'll tell you why I use the actors'/actress' real name in my fan fiction. I find when I read fan fiction with original names, I always have to go back and look to see who the actor/actress for that character is because it gives me a visual of the character. When there are a lot of characters, it becomes very annoying to always have to refer back to the forewords, etc. to remember who the actors are. So, personally, I like fan fics that has the real actors' names because it helps me visualize the actor without having to go back and look it up all the time.

One more thing, I find it really hard to keep chinese names straight because they are all one syllable words so at times, they all start to look the same and I find it a little confusing and tedious. For some reason, when you hear it being said while watching a movie, it's not as tedious and confusing as reading chinese names.

Hmmm. OK, I see what you mean.

If you have a large cast of characters, it's also good to keep a master list of characters around for your own reference. It's easy to lose track of them. I've been lazy about doing this myself. I can keep track of the major characters with no problems, but I often find myself having continuity problems when I forget what happened with a minor character who appeared in an earlier chapter, then disappears for a long time before reemerging in a later chapter.

So a master list is a good idea. I should make one myself one of these days.

[kidd]

Actually, it's been like a convention for chinese fanfiction writers to use to use the name of the actors in their fanfiction. If you have read the collection of fanfictions in the old yushi forum you will know. I initially also thought like you, that using original name is better. But, the more I read, I found that I can better envision the characters with actors real name. In fact, when I tried reading a fanfiction that uses all original names, I find it troublesome to have to keep referring back to the cast list.

[Cesare]

I think I once ran across a fic or two that looked decidedly wuxia/ancient from the first pages, but guys named Raymond and Bosco were running around.

My willing-suspension-of-disbelief-fu is pretty impressive but not THAT good.
In stories set in modern times, real names of the actors are more or less OK, I guess - but I agree with Ken here.
Using actors' names seems somehow - cheap.

[kidd]

Stories set in olden times can still use the actors name. I also cannot accept using characters with english for an ancient story, but, they can use the actors' real chinese name.

Instead of using Bosco and Raymond, the writer can use Wong Chuk Chak and Lam Fung.

[Ken Cheng]

Using actors' names seems somehow - cheap.

I wouldn't go that far, but coming up with a meaningful original name for a character enhances the character that much more.

[CC]

My 2 cents.

I just find reading ancient wuxia fanfics with modern actors names (even if using pinyin) wierd.

[charbydis]

I just start cracking up with laughter if I see real names of artists being used in sexy scenes. I think I read a homosexual scene about Nic Tse stroking Edision last year i while exploring winglin and it is hilarious.

But back to the topic, I do agree that the readers get more absorbed into the virtual world that you design for them if you use made-up names. I feel weird when reading modern names in ancient fanfics since people in the past have different values when naming kids. And supercool swordsmen with uncool names crack me up as well.