Mostly, what Jiminism said.
I must be a bit dense, because I don't get it. Only use fictional names? What are the fictional names one is allowed to use? Sherlock Holmes? Miss Haverstam? Fred Flintstone? Or, do you mean not to use the real first name of someone in the writing group? Or, maybe it is ok to use the name of someone in the writing group as long as you like them, and are writing something nice? Seems like a lot of stifling rules for "creative" writing.
For many writers, picking a character name is very, very important and meaningful. It also can be very time consuming, to pick the one you are completely happy with, one that means something important to you, and resonates with prospective readers. It is not as if you take your finger, spin it around, and choose a name from the phone book.
One of Kate Atkinson's characters in Emotionally Weird says "I've always wanted to know what creative writing really is. And does it have an opposite?" Limiting writers to certain subjects, certain character names seems to be just that: the opposite.
If I were in this writing group, I think I would find this situation fascinating, and mine it for my own writing. As I said in an earlier post, "Conflict is the gas of fiction." REAL conflict is an even better motivator for passionate writing. |