cal asked Zoje Stage:

I love your writing! I don't know what it is about it but it's satisfying to me, very very pleasing. I was wondering how you come up with the names for your characters? Some of them are pretty unique, and names I've never heard before!

Zoje Stage Thank you, Caroline! I love the process of naming characters, and many things factor into it: age, where they live, aspects of their personality, etc. For instance, with WONDERLAND I was dealing with artistic, highly individualistic characters so I wanted the members of the family to have unique names - especially Orla & Shaw's children, as the names reflect the creative life they've lived together. In MOTHERED, I was thinking about the no nonsense, working-class neighborhood of Greenfield. For whatever reason, for each character I usually have an initial sense of what letter it starts with, and maybe how many syllables it has, and then I scour my trusty baby name book for ideas.

More Answered Questions

Richard Jackson

Richard Jackson asked Zoje Stage:

Hi, I just finished "Baby Teeth" last night. I found it to be a riveting and well crafted story. You clearly did your research. I had a hard time putting it down. I'm looking forward to your next release. I enjoyed how you switched perspectives between Suzette and Hanna. I am glad you are not planning a sequel. No real question for you other than what are you working on now? Thanks for the great read.

Ann

Ann asked Zoje Stage:

I loved Baby Teeth & Dear Hanna. Honestly I didn’t know Dear Hanna was a Baby Teeth continuation until I started reading it. When I finished Dear Hanna, I read Baby Teeth & Dear Hanna again and Baby Teeth was a whole new experience. I honestly feel some empathy for Hanna in Dear Hanna and when it ended, I was hoping for a 3rd Hanna novel. I love your writing. Do you think there will be a 3rd Hanna story?

Lisa Mcbroom

Lisa Mcbroom asked Zoje Stage:

I loved Baby Teeth and just finished Dear Hanna. Have you read the book Confessions of a Sociopath?

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