Characters…Choosing names to Suit

Do you struggle with naming your characters? Believe it or not, I don’t. A name is sometimes the first thing that strikes me…as in Zakia and the Cowboy.

I worked at a call center in town until my health got the best of me. One night, while I was answering phones, a caller named Zakia came on the line. The name stuck in my head long after the call ended and I found myself jotting quick notes to go with the name.

Zakia, exotic name, needs a hero with simple name, ergo, Luke.

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Zakia, long blond hair, emerald green eyes, 5’8″ tall

Zakia, banker’s daughter, wealthy family, used to socializing, partying, and having attention

Zakia, interests include, cooking, baking, gardening, and charity work

Zakia and Luke, married young, divorced young

Luke, third generation rancher in Alberta

Luke, collar length blond hair, sapphire blue eyes, 6’4″

Luke, rancher, thinks Zakia left him because she got bored with ranch life, when in truth she hated competing with the ranch for his attention.

All of this I jotted down between calls that same night and Zakia and the Cowboy was born. I now had a NanoWriMo project for November.

Only I couldn’t wait. :)

Nano was only about a week away but the characters kept talking to me (Yep, they really did!) until I sat down and began writing their story. At first, it was just hand-written pages between calls at work, but when I sat down to type up my notes, the story kept unfolding. It was getting really good and by the time Nano officially started on November 1st, I was 13042 words into Zakia and Luke’s story, and I now knew that it would be a romantic suspense as the villain had also popped in to speak his mind. lol I really had a lot of fun writing this story.

2009 was my first Nano and I was determined to write 50,000 words, which was required to finish Nano through the Harlequin forum. (I didn’t realize there was an official Nano site at that time).

Here’s how it went:

National Novel Writing Month, 2009!

Zakia & The Cowboy: Started with 13042 Words

Nov 1 – 4791…17833

2 – 3990…21823

3 – 2995…24818

4 – 4778…29596

5 – 3523…33119

6 – 0

7 – 3060…36179

8 – 1618…37797

9 – 3217…41014

10 – 1135…42149

11 – 4340…46489

12 – 3134…49623

13 – 3693…53316

14 – 3620…56936

(NaNo words: 43894)

I finished Zakia and the Cowboy, edited it, and sent it off to my critique partners. As we were only halfway through November and I already had the outline and beginning of another story, Daydreams & Night Scenes, I decided to finish it.

In this story, I needed a name for the heroine that could double as a man’s name. She became Miranda, Randi to her friends. The hero is a rich playboy and I decided on Alexander, a strong name that the hero has to live up to by the end of the book. :)

This novel is, as yet, unpublished, but I just submitted it to a publisher. If they don’t offer a contract, I’ll self-publish it as planned.

Daydreams & Night Scenes: Started with 12604 Words

15 – 0…12604

16 – 1477…14081

17 – 4968…19049

18 – 2517…21566

19 – 3581…25147

20 – 1459…26606

21 – 573…27179

22 – 5163…32342

23 – 3256…35598

24 – 4402…40000

25 – 5110…45110

26 – 3265…48375

27 – 1726…50101

(NaNo words: 37497)

Urgh! This story was finished and I still had 3 days left. I was on a roll! Went searching my files for another story not finished (I always have a few. lol) and found Once in This Lifetime.

Jemma Leigh is the name of the heroine in this story. Why? Because it popped into my head at the right time. :) It was a distinctly feminine name for a strong woman, proving that a woman could be both. Theodore, her Teddy Bear from high school, had graduated and joined the army. Years later, Jemma Leigh and Ted are both back in their hometown and second chances just might be possible as they reunite and he appoints himself her bodyguard against the stalker who’s threatened her.

I later changed the title to Her Unlikely Bodyguard as Danielle Steel, one of my favorite authors, has a book out titled Once in This Lifetime. :)

Once In This Lifetime: Started with 18169 Words

27 – 1433…19602

28 – 6068…25670

29 – 6374…32044

30 – 5418…37462

(NaNo words: 19293)

I’d finished two novels and got well over halfway through the 3rd in 30 days. (28 really as I had two 0 word days) My end total was 100,684 words. Needless to say, I was impressed. I never thought I had that many words in me, but my poor fingers. lol I’d really put my 30 wpm typing speed to the test.

I’ve never managed to write that much in one month since, (Marketing and Promo take its toll) but it sure gave me a jump start in the publishing world. I submitted Zakia and the Cowboy to various publishers and suffered through 14 rejections until it was picked up by Evernight Publishing. They’ve been an excellent company to work with. By then I was writing the sequel, Covert Mission: Undercover Cop. I now have 7 books in the Thunder Creek Ranch series and #8, A Cowboy’s Drive, is in the works. I hope to finish the series this year with book #10, A Manning Christmas.

I hope this post has helped you in some way. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Just post in the comment section. In the meantime, happy reading and writing to all of you. :)