Naming Characters Leads to Shocking Realization

Finding the ‘right’ names for characters—heck, finding names, period—is always a challenge for me. Back when I was beginning to toy with writing, I attended a seminar where the professor said, “Character names should sound like their parents named them, not the author.”

One very important thing to consider is to avoid having similar names, especially names similar to main characters. Readers “see” the names and often it’s the first letter that triggers the connection. To avoid repeats, I keep...