A Look Into the Brainstorming Process (How a Book is Born Series: Naming the Characters)

This post is not about any book specifically. I just wanted to have fun. This is a peek into what goes through the mind of an author as they come up with a new book.

Each author has their own way of doing things, of course. This is just how I do them. I usually start with the character names. Most of the time, I already have a plot in mind, and those plots come during the course of writing a book. Sometimes I get inspiration from other books, from movies, and the like. Once in a while, I’ll get an idea from a dream or during a conversation I’m having with someone.

For the sake of this series, we’ll say that I have no plot in mind yet. I have decided to start with the characters. We’ll look into the plot in another post.

To illustrate how a character’s name is born, I will have a conversation with the hero and the heroine of the story I will eventually write. (It’s more fun to write if an author thinks of their characters as real people.)

……..

Ruth: We’re gathered here today to start a new book.

Character A: What is this one about?

Ruth: I don’t know yet.

Character A: If you don’t know anything about the book, how can you put the right characters in place?

Ruth: Granted, it would be helpful if I knew the plot, but right now I don’t. We’re just going to dive in and name the main characters. Since we know this is a romance, we’ll need a name for the hero and a name for the heroine.

Character B: I hope it’s not a name that you’ve done for another one of your books. I can’t help but notice that you have repeated a couple of them in the past. Obviously, you like the name Chris because you did a contemporary romance with a Chris in it, and you did a Regency with a Christopher in it. Then there was Anthony in a Regency and Tony in a historical western. Sure, it was a slightly different version of the names, but those were still the same names.

Character A: And let’s not do any nicknames that bounce off a name you’ve already done, OK? There are so many names in existence. There’s no reason why you should repeat any of them, even if you have written over 100 romances by now.

Ruth: I do not set out to use the same name over and over again. I just forget that I had that name in another book. It’s not until I’m ready to publish a book or have already published it that I realize I used the name before.

Character B: If you realize the mistake before you publish a book, you can go back and change it.

Ruth: Do you know what a pain in the butt it would be to try to go through and replace a single name in an entire book? The “find and replace” feature is not as smooth as one would think. For instance, let’s say I name another character “Chris”. If I were to change the name to something like Mike, it would alter every word with “chris” in it. So instead of “christening” or “Christmas”, I would end up with “miketening” and “Mikemas”. That would create a whole slew of problems for me in a full-length book.

Character B: I don’t recall you ever using the word “christening” anywhere in any of your books. And how many times do you put “Christmas” in one of your stories?

Ruth: I was illustrating a point. There are tons of other words out there that can be modified for the worst in a last-minute name change.

Character A: All right, we get the point. There’s no reason to continue on this particular discussion. We’ve got a book to write. 

Character B: You know, Christina is a name you have not used yet for a female lead. That might be something to consider for this one.

Character A: And if you don’t like the name Christina, you could always do a nickname like Tina. You haven’t named a character Tina, have you?

Ruth: I don’t think so. But I should go back and search through my book list just in case I have used that name before.

Character B: What about the name for the man? What name should we give me?

Ruth: Are you the male lead in the story?

Character B: Well, I thought since Christina or Tina was already taken by the other character in this discussion that I should take on the male lead.

Ruth: To be fair, we didn’t commit Character A to being the heroine in this romance. But it doesn’t matter at this point which role you both take. So yes, we can let Character A be Christina or Tina, as long as we verify the name has not been used for a main character in another one of my books. Let’s look at men’s names now.

Character A: I suggest you do a search that isn’t a simple Google search for “1800s historical Victorian names”. That’s how you end up using the same names over and over. Names really don’t change much from year to year.

Ruth: I can’t go with anything too modern. This is going to be a historical book.

Character B: It’s funny how you don’t give much thought to being authentic when it comes to verifying when something was invented or how people would have actually spoken back then. But when it comes to names, authenticity suddenly matters.

Ruth: I could write you out of this story and put someone else in your place, Character B.

Character B: Pretend I said nothing. We can always delete that comment if you want.

Ruth: I don’t think so. I want people to know what kind of abuse I put up with from my characters. People read a book and assume the characters were sweet little angels the entire time. It’ll be good for them to know the truth.

Character B: Whatever. Let’s get back to the point of this brainstorming session. I think it’d be easier to come up with my name if we know what the historical time period is. Is this for a Regency or a historical western?

Ruth: I haven’t decided yet.

Character B: Why not?

Ruth: Because the purpose of this session is to come up with the names. We are going to figure out the plot later. The plot will determine if we’re better off with a Regency or a historical western setting.

Character B: I suppose that makes sense. Okay. What about Brad?

Ruth: Hmm… That name sounds familiar. I think I’ve done that one.

Character A: I know you’ve done Chad. That was in one of your earlier books.

Ruth: Yes, I remember using that name for sure. I know I’ve even used a Tad. Oh wait. I used Brad in a Regency. Married In Haste. So cross off the names Brad, Chad, and Tad.

Character A: *giggles* Those all rhyme. Do you have any other names that rhyme like that?

Ruth: Well, in one story, I did have siblings I named Sandy and Randy. That was in a contemporary romance. And yes, I did that one on purpose. The parents were quirky that way. Brad, Chad, and Tad weren’t all in the same book. Oh, wait. I guess Brad and Tad were. One was the heroine’s brother, and the other was the heroine’s husband.

Character B: We will not be rhyming names in this book. So don’t make the male name anything that rhymes with Christina/Tina.

Ruth: We know not to use the name Chris. So that’s something we can dismiss.

Character B: Now we’re rhyming with our sentences?

Ruth: For putting up such a fuss, we could always name you Gus.

Character B: *groans*

Character A: Christina/Tina and Gus might go well together in a historical western. I can see some guy out west named Gus. At least for a nickname. Is Gus short for a longer name?

Ruth: I have no idea. But for the sake of this brainstorming session, we’ll use Gus. I’m pretty sure I haven’t used the name before, and I agree it needs to be in a western because I can’t see anyone in England using the name Gus. The name makes me think of America. So we’ll go with Tina and Gus, our hero and heroine who are going to embark on a historical western romance.

Character A: Sometimes the historical setting comes before a plot then.

Ruth: Indeed, in can.

End brainstorming session.