Did your mother remember your name when you were a child? Or did she, like mine, do this: “Andy, I mean Jack, Jeb . . .” Head shaking. “Jenny, Cammy . . . Wales Koyen, I mean Molly will you please set the table for supper?” Wales was our cat, Koyen our dog. This only happened when Mom had other things on her mind. My brothers and sisters and I got a kick out of the confusion when it happened, though. Mom often had other things on her mind.
Q: Is Mom looking at Cammy, Jenny, Jeb, Andy, Molly, or Jack?
A: Koyen
Good question. And I’ll admit that I’ve muddled the names of my own children and grandchildren. But do I muddle my series? Not really. I tend not to confuse places or sets of friends in real life and it works the same way in fiction. While I’m ‘in’ one of my series locations – Tennessee, Scotland, Massachusetts, California – I know where I am and with whom I’m hanging out. The trouble comes in record keeping. Two of my series begin with H and end in shop (Haunted Yarn Shop, Highland Bookshop), so sometimes I save something for the Highland series in a Haunted file and vice versa. It’s a careless but not infrequent mistake. (Ooh, maybe the files are haunted.)
By now I have a lot of characters to keep track of, but I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet of their names from the beginning. The spreadsheet has three pages. The first lists characters alphabetically by first name. The second lists them by last name. The third lists them by nickname. Each sheet also tells which books they appear in. This has been very helpful.
Fun, and the possibility for confusion, comes when I drop one series into another. In Argyles and Arsenic, book 5 in the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, there’s a knitting competition going on in town. As a tie-in to the competition, the Haunted Yarn Shop books are on display in the front window of Yon Bonnie Books. Margaret Welch, the protagonist in my series of short stories that appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, is now writing very real books. She’s written two books in the Secrets of Castleton Manor Library series, two in the Museum of Mystery series, and is all set to write a book in the Whistle Stop CafĂ© mystery series. How is a fictitious person writing books, you ask? We’re buddies and she’s letting me use her name as my pen name. (Thanks, Margaret!) She’s added to the fun by having the main character in the Museum of Mystery series read and enjoy the Secrets of Castleton Manor Library books.
One of Margaret's books. She and I would both like to drive that car.
Confusing any of the books
with real life is a whole nother* problem. When one of my characters is waiting
for a text to come in, I’ve found myself checking my phone for the text.
More than once. I tried to Google the distance between Inversgail and Oban in
Scotland. Oban exists. Inversgail is my own invention. And, in a nod to Mom’s
muddling of her children’s names, I end up calling my character Janet Janice
when I’m with my critique partner Janice. What do I do then? Shake my head.
Thanks for the great question, Susan.
*A whole nother is an example of a tmesis—separating the parts of a compound word by inserting one or more other words, often rude ones. A tmesis is also called an infix.
How do you keep your characters or series straight? Do you have a favorite tmesis?
I have a character spreadsheet with everyone's name and in which novel they appeared. So far, so good. Fingers crossed, though. The spreadsheet is only as good as my remembering to always use it . . .
ReplyDeleteI do the name thing all the time: "Oh, come on, Dave...Bob...John...Emmie." At least the names are still in my brain. Fun blog, Molly!
ReplyDeleteYOU, whatever your name is, take out the trash/chase the dog/help me unload the groceries. Great blog, Molly!
ReplyDeleteI have a character Bible.
I have a character bible too, but it didn’t keep me from typing “Endurance” instead of “Apple Grove” into a description of my upcoming book. Even if it’s on paper, it’s my brain I have to train. Nice post, uh, what’s-your-name.
ReplyDeleteI have character spreadsheets with everyone's deets, series, and book. As Jim points out, it only works if you consult it!
ReplyDeleteI never had kids so the name thing didn't come up in my generation, but there were nine years between my brother and I and my mom could never keep us straight, even after he went to college and I became what amounted to an only child!
I admire your organizational skills, Molly, nice blog.
I remember a frustrated uncle trying to tie up a small boat to a dock in worsening conditions while we (fairly young) cousins just stood there gaping. He finally tossed a rope and shouted, "Grab that, whoever the hell you are!" Thus bypassing the potential litany of names with a tmesis.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me, I'm confused.
ReplyDeleteMom's work around became "Will someone please set the table for supper?" One of Dad's nicknames for me became Someone.
ReplyDeleteI started my character name database when I realized I'd named two women Freda, one in the first Haunted Yarn Shop book and the second in another Haunted Yarn Shop book. The first Freda has only a bit part, though, and the second a more memorable one. So far no one's called me on the duplication. Not that you can't repeat names in subsequent stories, but Freda is just unusual enough that it's awkward.
May all our brains remain agile!
Fun blog! My mom used to mix up my sisters’ names and I thought it was just her until I started doing it with my own kids! And I only have two!
ReplyDeleteI have lists and lists…
Such a funny post! My 4 sisters and I all have names that start with K so the name mix-ups not only happened to my mom, but continue with my sisters and I whenever we're together.
ReplyDeleteYou are so smart to have kept spreadsheets from the beginning. I have lists but they're in all different places. Even my organization is unorganized!