I loved the recent diary that SensibleShoes did about the Turkey City Lexicon. I do not yet have enough words on paper to have fallen into all of the delightful plot holes and problems that the Lexicon listed. I will someday. Then I will revise, revise, revise and, oh, revise again. I am looking forward to it. It will mean I have progressed from having this funny idea in my head to having this funny misshapen mass on paper that needs work. That would be progress.
No, I am still working on generating characters. There is a Figure of Speech site that lists grammatical expressions that are very common in writing. I thought it might be fun to list a few of them and see if they have components that might help make interesting characters. These are a few of the listings:
aptronym
a name aptly suited to its owner, often because it applies in more than one sense.
Real life examples:
Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man
Dr. Russell Brain, British Neurologist
Cardinal Sin, Catholic Bishop for the Philippines
William Wordsworth, Poet
Fictional Examples:
Dr. Evil from Austin Powers
Edward Nygma (The Riddler) from the Batman comics
Dickens: Oh hell, I’ll be here all night. (Just pick a favorite.)
James Bond’s female associates. (Xenia Onatopp, really? yes, in Goldeneye.)
Aptronyms are dangerous, I think. I would use them when writing humor, but even then, sparingly.
hypocorism
use of pet names, diminutives, baby talk, or terms of endearment.
This one is pretty obvious. It’s calling someone named Christopher, Chris or calling a Margaret, Peggy. It is also calling someone a pet name, as lovers do. But this also refers to the practice of calling people in supportive or lower status positions, “Honey” or "Sweetie” and things like that. The person using the nicknames, in this case, is using unequal status to show power. “Honey” can rarely turn around and call the boss “sweetie” in return. It is a character indicator, albeit a subtle one.
I am not sure if Delores Uxbridge in the Harry Potter series uses this type of address, but it would suit her character. Older science fiction, crime, noir, etc., was full of hypocorisms, commonly in male to female dialogue. (Where would 30’s Noir be without it?)
apophasis
mentioning something by declaring that it shall not be mentioned.
Wikipedia nailed this one: “The device is typically used to distance the speaker from unfair claims, while still bringing them up. For instance, a politician might say, "I don't even want to talk about the allegations that my opponent is a drunk." It can also be used in denying such claims entirely, for example by saying "I'm sure that my opponent is not lying; however, his grasp of the facts seems to be shaky.”
The modern Republican Party and especially the Tea Party runs on Apophasis. Nice trick if you can pull it off. Lyndon Johnson was a master of this type of thing, as were several old school Dems. The modern Dem Party is much too serious and cerebral to use this device. Mores the pity, I think.
Again, I would love to have a character that could use this. It would probably be a villain, but nice guys can also use it. Not every deception is evil, nor every deceiver an evil doer. Sometimes I want my good guys to out-think my bad guys. That is when I would have someone around who thinks this way. It might be a good character trait to have, depending on the circumstances.
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There are a lot more of these grammar tropes of course. Can they be used to shape characters? Do I ever unintentionally sabotage a poor characters life with the choice of a bad name or quirky manner of speech? Are these recoverable mistakes or do you have to start over? (Names, well, I'm guessing that requires a "do-over" but quirks can be toned-down in revision.) And, well, I am also just having fun with grammar. (Honestly, some of these words sound like they would make good one-word spells for the Hogwarts crowd, if the spells can be cast in Greek as well as Latin.)
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