: Re: Naming Characters after Friends/Family I drafted a book two years ago that I'm now polishing to publish. When I drafted it, for speed's sake, I named one of my primary characters after an old

@Kevin153

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The other answers talk about how you can approach keeping the name, if you choose to do so. I'll chime in by saying the alternative isn't as bad as it seems.

I have used my imagination to come up with an alternative that, I totally agree, readers won't have a problem with at all. However, I have a problem with it. It feels downright strange to me to call him by anything else.

I've actually been in Bob's position before where my friend wrote a character based off of me. I was fine with it, but in the editing stage she changed the name anyway. It was weird for us at first, like you say, but readers were still able to identify with the character having only ever known the new name.

A few years out and three books in, the character has fully taken on a personality of their own and the name change doesn't feel as weird anymore. My friend and I remember the original name and that shared secret is good enough for us.

So if you do opt to change the name, yes it'll feel weird right away, but down the road you'll get accustomed to it. And it freed up my friend to do horrible and tragic things to that character as the story warranted.

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