Unschool for Writers

Unschool for Writers

The Challenges of Naming Your Characters

...by any other name a rose...

Alison Acheson's avatar
Alison Acheson
Aug 22, 2023
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Photo by Kerri Shaver on Unsplash

Recently I had a piece of bad news: my favourite old magazine, Boston’s The Writer, has been purchased by a company and will now no doubt fold; none of their writers are being paid. Including me.

The silver lining here is that I can now share with you some of the pieces I’ve written for them over the past few years. Here’s one, on naming characters, something I tend to agonize over… and enjoy in that way we enjoy certain types of agony. There’s a satisfaction in knowing you’ve discovered the perfect name for a character.

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