I'm writing a fiction novel on ghosts. It's about a kid who doesn't belive in ghosts, until his frends trick him into a haunted house. I also need help naming the kid. Here is a exerpt from what I have so far, at this point, he's fed up with this place, and the ghost he sees in this paragraph, he has seen before....

“What should I do?” He asked himself. “Well, if I were you, I’d run” said a mysterious voice coming from behind him. He let out a horrified scream before whirling around, only to see it was the ghost he had seen earlier. “You scared me half to death!” he yelled. “Well I can’t help it if you’re sensitive” the figure said. “Sensitive?” he practically yelled. “I’m not sensitive, you just popped out of nowhere and from behind me, and you started talking! How would you like it if I freaked you out?” he yelled. “I suppose I’d be scared to death too, but seeing as to it that I’m already dead, that would be impossible wouldn’t it?” he said partly irritated. “I’d agree with you, but nothing makes sense here! Things move on their own, ghosts come out of nowhere (like you), and…. well…. just…. nothing makes sense here!” “Well there’s no need to shout.” the ghost said. He opened his mouth to talk, but let it go, in risk of halving to talk to this freak-of-nature any longer.

so far seems good I would read it. I suck with writing though. I like it. Name him nick

What I do is look back to my younger years and place names that way. Also depends on the characters and their involvement in the story. Or simply give them nicknames...Jackson, JT, etc. All depends on your writing style. The main character you want a strong name, hero you want a strong name. Villian you want a darker name. Naming is the easy part its getting the story idea and your ideas in unity is the hardest.

Should this be in the writer's and artist's section?

Are you looking for constructive criticism of your writing, or how best to show the ghost in the book?

I like the name Nick also. I'd go for Nick. I think the ghost should be called Logan.

good call..........and keep us updated on how it's going...

randomhit10

yes I would like to read the story....so lemme know when it gets published. Thanks Randomhit

Hey Lostinmymysterious ....

You pose a great question -- coming up with great names for fictional characters is an important element of fiction. You want the name to have a kind of psycho-social resonance.

One great way is to choose names from areas of knowledge which you are passionate about. I like to choose names for my fictional characters based on something I love -- which is astronomy.

When I need a really good name for a character, I go look at a star chart and read through the names of stars. I also look through the history books and examine the names of famous astronomers.

You can go here to find one of my SF novelles which is free to download:

http://ironghost.wordpress.com/category/free-e-books/

This is a story that involves the antics of two barn swallows who achieved a kind of intelligence. I names the two swallows after stars, Sabik and Bellatrix.

When I hit upon those names, the whole story just started "working."

Thats awesome!

Thank you, kind person.

thanks everyone I'll keep you updated on how it's coming along. And nick is an intersesting name.... I'll consider that....

I thinked it has a sense of humor to it, I like...
but what I may think that he is yelling a bit too much. Use differen't words in place of yell. Makes everything more, ... characterized or emotionalized or whatever you may call it. It gives that exstra feeling to it all. I'd like to read the whole thing though. It sounds realy like it could be a good intense type of humor

Okay maybe I'm wrong about all, just said what I thought of.

and for names... hmm...
Alden; Joey; Co(b/d)y; Riley?
Usually for a small boys name is that lil' innocent name or nickname they have. Easy to pronounce, maybe catchy and that 'y' usualy works in the end.
Or atleast I think it should sort of be like that...

I was going for that "humor" sense of it. It makes a fun twist to a semi-strange topic. And I've decided that the ghost in the above paragraph is a young girl. She adds a very strange twist later on..... but thats all i'm telling you

ah nice, sounds great! looking forward to read it!

Atchison Kansas in the year 2010 is the setting

thanks for considering my name nick or nicky

Actualy, i decided on Nick as the official name

Niiiiiiiiiice thanks man. Im happy my name is part of a book and that I helped you. Be sure to send me a copy

Will do

Yeah, suggestion for the writing style: A thesaurus is a writer's best friend.

Every so often read back over what you've written. If it doesn't capture your attention, it probably won't capture someone else's either. And using the same descriptive words over and over is something that will turn many readers off.

I'd also change that opening line from "he asked himself" to "he asked, to himself" Dunno why exactly this stands out to me...but it just seems to flow better to me. *shrug* The original line kinda made me think he was having a conversation with himself *shrug*

But yeah other than that, I like the general plot idea. If you need any other criticism from me just send me a private message or an email.

Good luck!
-C

For some reason when I think of ghosts I think of high society names as he it would say: my name is Charles Van Heffenberger, or something regal. I dunno why?