On the Experience of Literary Creation: How to Name Characters in Literary Creation?

The taboo here is not only the naming of fictional characters in literary creation, but also the naming in real life.

The first taboo: biased words and strange words.

The second taboo: age limit.

The third taboo: small words and big sounds.

Strange characters are common in literary works. With the proliferation of "Yi Xue" and "Guashu", it is becoming more and more common in reality. For example, my brother has a classmate named "Song?" . No teacher can say "?" At roll call. The pronunciation of Zhan (three sounds are the same as Zhan). For another example, I saw in an online novel that a character's name is "xi", and its pronunciation should be (one sound) and (four sounds), and its pronunciation is the same as "Xiyue". But at first glance, do you take it for granted that there is a piece of wood that says "Why"?

If the teacher can't read the roll call, you can ask the students themselves. It doesn't matter if you can't remember, just remember people. However, in the works, the readers passed on word of mouth, and later it was changed to film and television, and the actors shouted "why" and "why", which is no joke.

The so-called "age limit" means that the name has some characteristics that limit the age. There are roughly three situations: first, the name is "small", second, the name is "old", and third, there are too many strokes.

Xiao, Zi Ling, Shao Qiang ... Such a name is "Xianxiao"-when teenagers and young people call it nothing bad, what should I do when I am old? In literary creation, it doesn't matter whether a character is a teenager or a young man, but if he is a "penetrating" character or is used for realistic naming, he is "limited".

Show old, in the same way. For example: learning knowledge, understanding justice, learning ink ... It is hard to imagine what kind of disobedience a lively teenager and a slim girl will bring to themselves and others by being called such a name.

Why do many strokes belong to the "age limit"? It's simple-too many strokes, too difficult to write. How hard does it take a child to write his name correctly? There is a joke that all the students handed in their papers during the exam, and their names have not been written here. A little exaggerated, but not alarmist. Example: I have an old colleague whose last name is "Fan". Originally, this surname was difficult to write, so the child was named "Fan Yi". Oh, my God! Even I, a professional code word, dare not say that I can write these three words with a pen. Not bad! Such a name, in reality, really hurts children. If it is in a work, it is estimated that editors and directors will hit people!

As for "small print and big sound", the most typical one is "Zhang" as the surname. Actually, that was the last name. I can't help it In works, it must be avoided. Otherwise, ten out of ten people will "evolve" into "Zhang". By the way: this "seal" is taboo, and Aunt Qiong Yao has already committed it. Fortunately, it was still a "reading age" at that time, and it was not a problem. Today, but ...

Speaking of "artistic conception", martial arts works are typical.

If you pay a little attention, you will find that in martial arts novels and their derivative film and television works, the names of characters will be a little "alienated" from the "world". Three characteristics:

First, stir up allusions. Typical example: practice dressing. Mr. Liang Yusheng is the author of "The Big Lady" in bride with white hair, and his dictionary is named Clothes and Feathers.

Second, use multiple surnames. Typical example: Ling Huchong. The legendary swordsman heroes in Jin Yong's works. Hu Ling, in the initial compound surname, is also rare and even more unusual.

Third, the gender characteristics are vague. Typical example: Lu Xiaofeng. The protagonist of Lu Xiaofeng by Mr. Gu Long is also an important auxiliary figure in several other related works. And-also from Mr. Gu Long, as we all know-Chu Liuxiang. It is easy to have "gender dislocation" just by looking at the name.

Martial arts novels are purely fictional "legends", similar to "myths", and the names of characters are unique, which is not only understandable, but also quite necessary.

Of course, the "artistic conception" of the name is not only available in martial arts works, but also needed. It is indeed universally needed and should exist.

For example, my mother has a young colleague who introduced me to try to fall in love. Beautiful girl, Beijing dialect is called "Jianguo Er". Then it went away. I married a businessman, gave birth to a son, named Zihao, and said this name. When the son grows up, people can call him Hao Ge. This is probably the "artistic conception" produced by watching more gangster films in Hong Kong.

For another example, it is in a drama script related to the Northeast Anti-Japanese War that I just finished filming. It's a "revision" job, that is, I have a complete script (just "finished"), and I feel very sorry. I feel terrible, so I just follow the existing framework and start over. There are three fictional characters in the play, brother and sister. The names given in the original script are Qu Dacheng, Qu Dagong and Qu Lingxi. I think Qu is not typical enough in Northeast China, and it is a great achievement. The "scholarly well-off family" set for the characters (not counting "scholarly family") is simple and vulgar, and does not conform to the times (the characters were born at the beginning of the last century), and it has no corresponding relationship with the name "Linxi" of my little sister, which seems to have a bit of "cultural background". I changed my surname to Lin (there are many surnames in Northeast China), and according to the characteristics of the times, I gave them an "An".