How to name the characters in the novel?

At all times, naming the characters in novels is one of the compulsory courses for writers. The same is true of foreign writers. Hemingway was asked how to name the characters in the novel when answering a reporter's question. His answer was simple: "Try to be good." Stephen King appended a revised version of one of his novels in the book Writing, among which there is an example of modifying the name of the protagonist. He gave the reason that the name of the character in the first draft of the novel was too long and not loud enough, so it was changed to a short and powerful name. Ancient writers in China paid more attention to the names of characters, because the complexity of Chinese characters made Chinese names have more meanings. Almost every person's name in Cao Xueqin's works contains profound meaning, such as "Jia Yucun" is a false word, "Zhen Yinglian" means "true pity" and so on. According to teacher Bao Pengshan, the name "Lu Zhishen" also has a certain meaning, which symbolizes that "rude people are often wiser". I don't know whether this statement is in line with Mr. Shi Naian's original intention, but at least we can see that the names in Chinese writing can be extended to more meanings.

speaking of good names written by contemporary writers, I think the most widely circulated and really well-remembered ones are martial arts masters such as Jin Yong and Gu Long. The names of Ximen Chuixue, Huamanlou, Chu Liuxiang and Hua Wuque are all so antique. However, most of the online novels now give names to characters in this way, and they always use compound surnames, which will inevitably make people feel tired and vulgar. In contrast, Jin Yong is good at creating some memorable names with some seemingly ordinary words: Xie Xun, for example, looks ordinary, and it will be very impressive to attach himself to a character like the Golden Lion King; Another example is Cheng Lingsu, where "Ling" and "Su" are common characters for girls' names, but Cheng Lingsu's name comes from two medical classics, Ling Shu and Su Wen, so that the name has a kind of decadent and magical power. Moreover, Jin Yong is good at using name combinations. Two very common names, together, have another meaning, such as Guo Jing, Yang Kang, Yang Xiao and Fan Yao.

So, how do we name the characters in our novels?

I don't think we need to have such obvious implications as Cao Xueqin wrote A Dream of Red Mansions. Unless your work can be as great as A Dream of Red Mansions, it will be self-defeating and make your work look artificial.

Secondly, there must be truth in life. This is mainly reflected in the following aspects: first, it must conform to the characteristics of the times: the name "Li Wenge" can only appear in a specific era; The second is to conform to the characteristics of the characters themselves. For example, this person has been illiterate for eight generations, and it is like a joke to give him a name like "Guan Ju". Third, it should conform to the regional characteristics. For example, almost no one in Northeast China will call Hu Amei such a typical Cantonese name. Finally, we should pay attention to the surnames of the characters. Mr. Ma Sanli said that if the surname is Yu, we should name some water-related names, such as Yu Zhenjiang and Yu Deshui, and if we name it "Yu Jin Guo", it will become a dish.

If you avoid the above taboos, you can choose a name casually, but you should pay attention not to choose a name that is too common. For example, according to the data, there are nearly 3, people named "Zhang Wei" in China, so you should not name a character Zhang Wei again for two reasons. First, the name is easy to forget. Secondly, your reader may be called Zhang Wei, which will cause a lot of inconvenience. Of course, it is not feasible to give a novel character a strange name in order not to have the same name, because the one mentioned at the beginning of this article will affect the reader's attention.