Thursday, July 9, 2009

You named your main character what?

Names and titles are my downfall with writing. I always want my characters to have interesting names that haven't been done before, but that's not always possible.

I've found myself scrolling through lists of names on baby sites, which is funny because I don't have kids :-)

In my WIP, I wanted to name my heroine Belle after a friend who wanted a girl but has two boys. Then my CP told me I probably shouldn't thanks to Stephanie Meyer and the Twilight franchise. With much grumbling, I changed the name. Darn it. I'm okay with the change now, but it's irritating.

But sometimes, I give my characters run of the mill names. Like Jane. Only spelled differently :-) Depends on the mood of the book.

Of course, there's been times I've changed someone's name mid way through a book because it simply wasn't working.

Names are powerful and also elusive. If you've got a great one, I'd love to hear it!

1 comment:

Tonya Kappes said...

Names always throw me for a loop too! Generally I have the hero/heroine in my mind, but all the secondary characters drive me crazy!!!
I decide on what they look like and if they are Italian, I will google Italian names and try to pick one.