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The Name Game

Shoes McCheryl. My first nickname, other than the ones that are mutations of my name:  Cheri, and Che.  The name you give your character defines them, but we don’t often think of our characters in terms of their nickname.  About the time McDonalds restaurants were opening, we were adding ‘Mc’ in front of almost any word. It was also the year saddle shoes were popular again and I was proud of mine.  A school chum started calling me Shoes McCheryl.

Nicknames happen for a variety of reasons, though they can be passive aggressive or loving. During the 1970’s, I was beginning to walk around the City of Lowell where the shops were on my own. My dad told me that if I saw Ding Ding to cross to the other side of the road. I found out that Ding Ding was a local boxer who spent too many years in the boxing ring and was a bit rattled in the head. He didn’t hurt people, but he did walk up and down the streets punching parking meters during the day. When the parking meters were struck they would make a ding, ding sound. The locals always knew where Ding Ding was by listening to the progression of the parking meter sounds as he worked his way down the street.

Stud worked at my dad’s Mobil station. No explanation necessary. Tough, I must admit I never understood it as he was short, rotund, and always had a cigar in his mouth. Big John and Little John confused me when I was a kid. They were the mechanics at the Mobil station. Big John was 5’9” tall and Little John was 6’4” tall. Turns out, it wasn’t about their height. Big John was the dad and Little John was his son.

Then there was poor Squeaky. He was one of dad’s customers. They grew up together. When Squeaky was six, he got wagon for his birthday. He spent years pulling that wagon around and it had one wheel that squeaked. Because he lived in the same area as an adult where he grew up, he’d been Squeaky for nearly 45 years.

I’ve lived in five states, worked in a variety of work genres, and volunteered for many organizations. In each part of the many areas of my life people have nicknames that fit either their perception of me or something that happened during the characters history:  Peaches, Auntie Cher Bear, Delete, Horse Fairy, and Shit Head. Your characters have a past and they evolve throughout your novel. Nicknames are a reflection of how the other characters perceive each other.

By Cheryl Swayne

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