Jenn asked where CHCARACTER NAMES COME FROM

[Joshilyn]

In another thread, but I thought it might get lost. Here is my (abbreviated) answer, plus please chime in!:

Hey Jenn!

Sometimes I look for a name that sounds like who the person is...A kind of naming onomatopoeia. A hard tough person might have a short name with sharp, staccato consonants.

Sometimes the name evokes who they are for me --

in SOMEONE ELSE'S LOVE STORY, William's last name was always Ashe, but I did not realize until much later how perfect that name is for a man who has lost everything---his whole life has been set afire and is utterly gone at the beginning of the book. It is ashes.

And sometimes? I resort to the Great Big Book of Baby Names. :) Shandi (who claims to have experienced a virgin birth) is a Celtic name that means Gift of God, but it can be very LITERALLY translated to mean "I am pregnant." It is also used as a nickname for a traditionally Jewish name (her dad is Jewish) and a Wasp-y name (Her mom is a WASP), and I wanted that blend to be reflected in her name. SO... that one took HOURS with the Big Book of Baby Names.

Now this may JUST be me, but I find that angsting and researching about naming is a GREAT way to avoid writing, but eventually the name slots into place and I have to face that blank, bare, spooky page. If you think you are doing this, then stick a placeholder name in and promise yourself you can play names after you get your word count in.

What about you, Debut folks -- do you have ways to avoid writing? Or is that JUST me. :)

Best of luck to you as you pursue this maddening and delightful craft---Joshilyn

[Jenn]

How did you come up with Wolcott? It fit him perfectly but I never would have thought of that. Thanks for the great suggestions.

[Joshilyn]

Oh THANKS! Truth be told, that one? I have NO idea! He started fully formed as Walcott and stayed Walcott, and the end of the book came out of his name in a way (no spoilers, but you know what I mean) SOmetimes they just are who they are.

Like Paula was ALWAYS Paula, but I NEVER had a last name for her. I tried about 100. Finally, I decided to never say her last name in the whole book.

Now I am writing a book that Paula narrates, and I HAD to find a last name. I picked Vauss, which is a hybrid of two names---one means fox and one means liar. I think it is going to stick. :)

(PS THAT WAS A LIE!!!!I AM NOT "WRITING" IT! I am sitting in a coffee house with the FILE OPEN playing on this message board...but I SHOULD be writing it...) --Joshilyn

[Jenn]

oh the new book sounds cool have to keep an eye out for that when it hits the shelves. Will we see more of Walcott and Natty and Shandi? I assume we will get more William in Paula's book. :)

[Carrie]

The main character in The Home Place, Alma Terrebonne, got her name from my great-grandma, Alma Kifer, and the town where my great-grandpa was born: Terrebonne, Minnesota. Stealing names from dead people has worked out well for me.

[Rebecca]

It seems my method for naming characters differs for each character. Often I choose a name that is deliberately simple and non-evocative (say, Jim), other times I choose it for its history. Naomi's biblical namesake's life is marked by loss and dislocation - these things alter her profoundly - but it's also a story of sisterhood, which my Naomi also experiences in spades. Sophia means Wisdom and her story is very much about how people get wise, what wisdom costs. I also love baby name books and have horrified more than one boyfriend by leaving a Baby Names! book out on the dining room table, hahaha.

[Mary]

I find character names in all kinds of places--from other books, articles, history, listings of names on the internet), but sometimes I name my characters after people I know. The heroine in Up At Butternut Lake, Allie Becket, is named after my sister Alexandra, whom I always called Allie. It was the first name that came to me for this character.

[Katherine]

My characters' names came to me with their personalities. The inhuman Fatas chose their own names, which have histories. I wanted heroic and timeless names for my 4 main characters. Jack is a fairy tale name. Finn is short for Serafina, but Finn is the name of a mythical Irish hero. Christie's family is of Irish descent and Christie is short for Christopher. Sylvie means 'girl of the forest' in Latin and it suits her character's evolution.

[Katherine]

Joshilyn wrote: "In another thread, but I thought it might get lost. Here is my (abbreviated) answer, plus please chime in!:

Hey Jenn!

Sometimes I look for a name that sounds like who the person is...A kind of n..."
Research is my way of pretending I'm writing when I'm really not! I get caught up in a book about an ancient culture or prehistoric fossils or Victorian seances and I'm lost.

[Lacy]

I can't write a character until I know his or her name. Sometimes it comes first, in fact--before I know what he or she sounds like. And sometimes it's a problem, because the name that comes is similar to the name of someone already in my life (but never someone similar to the developing character, oddly). So tweaks must be made. But for the most part, the name is a core piece, and it comes from whatever lucky ether makes dreaming up a story fun.