Choosing Character Names

What I'm reading: Sleep Tight, by Anne Frasier (Nook), Gun Games, by Faye Kellerman

I was reading a book recently that inspired this post revisiting my character naming strategies. This book was by a well-known, award-winning author, and is someone I respect. I'm not trying to single her out, because it's a common enough "problem" in books I've read. And for the sake of anonymity, I'm not going to show the names of the characters.

I counted 32 named characters. That gave me 32 first names, but not quite as many last names, because some were related, so they had the same last name. For this post, I'm not separating first or last names. I just put them all in a single list, alphabetized them, and then counted repeats of the same initials.

What I found:
B: 3
C: 8
D: 8
H: 2
J: 7
K: 1
L: 3
M: 6
P: 5
R: 6
S: 5
T: 1
V: 1
W: 2
Z: 1

Also, there one character had the same first and last initials as the heroine.

Character Names

What I'm reading: Eye of Heaven, by Marjorie M. Liu (bike)

I hope everyone is getting ready for their holiday celebrations in a calm, peaceful, stress-free way! And if you're stuck having to find a last-minute gift, may I humbly remind you that e-books can be given as gifts. It's been around for a while on Amazon, but Barnes & Noble has joined in the "gifting" parade, and you can buy any e-book (of course, I hope one might be mine) and send the gift to someone on your list. They'll get an email telling them the gift has arrived, with instructions for download. The only caveat might be where they live—for various legal reasons I don't understand, non-US folks might not be able to redeem the gift. But it definitely works for anyone in the states.

No braving the crowds at the mall, no standing in lines, no postage, no wrapping. Easy-Peasy.

On the writing front—a recent read had me pulling my hair, and not because of the quality of the writing, or the story. It was simply one of those things that tangled my brain and kept slowing the read. I've talked about it before, and it's a common enough "problem" that I wonder why editors aren't more alert to it—or at least the editor who was "in charge" of the book. However, since one of my editors apparently paid no attention to character names, I can sympathize—WHAT'S IN A NAME? had 3 characters named Hank/Henry If you have the print version of that book, you can find them. The new e-version, thank goodness, has been fixed.

The WHY Of It All

What I'm reading: Killer Body, by Elle James

I spent several days working on the new manuscript, trying to pay attention to the process along the way, so I could share it here. Since I don't outline the entire book, or even the first few chapters, I thought I'd see if I can elaborate a little more on how I get from a blank page 1 to "the end." It's all about asking WHY.

Recapping last Thursday's post. I started out knowing at least the basics about one of my characters. In this case, because both had made appearances in other books or manuscripts, I knew who the heroine and hero were going to be. I then searched for whatever I'd already established for them.

Sometimes this is good, sometimes it's a snag. My heroine began as a woman on the run, so having her deal with a new identity seemed reasonable. I figured she'd want a plain, common name. Mary seemed perfect. (And easy to type). First snag: The hero's given name was Mark. Mark & Mary wasn't going to work. Or would it? Mark's name was only mentioned a few times in the other books, because he goes by his nickname, Grinch. (His last name is Grinciewicz, which ISN'T easy to type. Heck, I'm not even sure how to pronounce it.) So maybe it would work. But rather than deal with it now, I simply made Mary into Elizabeth. If I want to change it again, I can. Search and Replace can be your friend.

Character Names

I've been reading the ARC of When Danger Calls. It's a different kind of reading, and requires a totally different mindset. It's not the same kind of editing I do with my critique groups, because at this point, it's strictly a 'typo or glaring error' read. It's hard not to want to make it better. I don't think I'll ever be satisfied with any of my books. There's always something I think could be improved. Finding minutiae is tedious. I keep reading the 'story' and have to stop, go back, and read the 'words'.

The first error I caught also reinforced my character-naming approach. Coming up with appropriate names is always a challenge. And, as one professor pointed out in a workshop, it should sound like the character's parents named them, not the author. At a conference, a speaker warned everyone to watch out for too many characters with similar sounding names, or names starting with the same initials. He also said that the initials of your protagonists should be the only characters with those letters. After I wrote a paragraph with Langley and Laughlin talking about Lalone, I realized I needed to keep better track. I created a spreadsheet with two columns of the alphabet, one for first names and one for last names. As I named a character, I'd put the names in the appropriate slots. This let me see if I was fixating on a particular letter. If it was a major character, I used a colored font as a warning to avoid using that letter for anyone else with a 'speaking' role.

As a reader, I tend to "see" the entire name based on the beginning. So when I read a book where there was a Mike, a Mack, and a Mick, I was easily confused. For me, I can differentiate more easily between Jack and Mack than Mike and Mick. But having all the characters with one syllable, 4 letter names isn't easy for the reader. Do others read the way I do? See only the beginning of words? Apparently so.

I created a make-believe high-end security firm with a secret covert-ops side that can go where Uncle Sam can't. (Let's me avoid dealing with military regulations, the government, etc.). The company is called Blackthorne, Inc. The head guy is Horace Blackthorne. Before the ARCs are printed, the manuscript has been through at least 4 sets of edits with at least two editors. So, when I start reading my ARC (which is a cool thrill because it's a bound book), what do I see? The first time we meet the boss, he's Horace Blackstone. I went back and checked all my edited versions of the manuscript. It was there from the first round. Nobody caught it. My hypothesis is that they read names the way I do—and if it started with "Black" they didn't see the rest.

At least I caught it before the book goes to print. Otherwise, I'd probably be chasing down the books in stores and libraries and penciling in the right name.

I'm off to San Francisco at the crack of dawn Monday. Back to packing!

Friday Followups

What I'm reading: No One Left to Tell, by Jordan Dane

What I'm working on: Revised Chapter 1, scene 2 of Fozzie's book.

Bits and pieces:

Handyman Lane
The handyman company sent a different worker (a guy, this time) to do the final fix-ups. He's a professional painter, and he tells me the original crew did not do what they contracted, and did a poor job overall. Seems that when we opted out of the orange peel finish, they should have put a skim coat on the walls and primed them. I guess I'll call the company and see if there's a financial adjustment, because I sure as heck am not going to sit through all the painting again. Meanwhile, the guy promises to do what he can to touch up some of the holidays, and he'll mount the wall mirror and hook correctly this time.

Character names -- while on the flight to Syracuse, I looked in my seat pocket and found the boarding pass of whoever sat there on the previous flight. "Rhys Ainsworthy". Gotta use that in a book someday. And who do you 'see' belonging to that name?

Back story
Yesterday, I devoted most of my time to hunkering down with the new WIP. Since I'd brainstormed many of the plot points with my daughter, it was "simply" a matter of putting the words on the page to show it. But it does raise the issue of 'how much back story does the reader need?' I now know almost everything about my heroine's (Torie at the moment) past. But putting it front and center will only slow the pace. Still, the reader has to have a reason to care about a character, and in the early pages of the book, readers are still getting a handle on who's who. Does a reader want to know all about Torie's childhood? I don't think so. Not now, anyway.

I also brought in a new character or two--it's easier to deal with exposition if you can show it in scene rather than using long passages of interior monologue or narrative. I try to limit myself to no more than 2 or 3 short paragraphs when I'm dealing with back story. This means my heroine's best friend gets to live a little longer, because I needed her around to explain what the heck the characters are doing there in the first place.

Another pitfall is the Maid-Butler (or As You Know Bob) dialog. Two people who know what's happening don't talk about the details, or 'spell out' definitions. Cops know what AFIS and CODIS are. It's always easier to have a lay person on scene, so the pros can (patiently) explain what they've just said.

Also, another pebble in the road. One of the new characters is a guy--but he's not the hero. Readers of romance want to get a handle on h/h as soon as possible. I didn't have a clue about this expectation (there are no rules) when I wrote Finding Sarah and actually introduced a non-hero as the first male on the page. It worked, but I had a lot of questions during the draft process. Heck, Allison Brennan killed one of the "very likely the hero' characters halfway through the book.

Names, Names, Names

What I'm reading: Forbidden and Freedom's Price, both by Suzanne Brockmann
(Finished reading all my contest entries.)

What I'm working on: Scoring my Daphne reads. Also, back to Fozzie's book. Feels good to be doing something 'new' after all the edits and revisions.

With all the books I've been reading lately, and especially, trying to read quickly but still give them the attention needed for scoring, I've been caught up in the Name Game. Naming characters is a challenge all writer's face. They've got to "fit" the character. However, readers bring their own expectations or inner visions. My mother in law's name is Lucy. She's going to be 90 in a couple of weeks. Somehow, a young, svelte, sexy character named Lucy means the author's going to have to work at getting a good description down from the get-go. And what do you 'see' when you read a character's name is Allenby? That was the name of our tour guide in South Africa, and believe me, he looked nothing like the man I envisioned. (His pictures is in this blog somewhere down in the South Africa travel posts from December)

Anyway, when I write, I create a spreadsheet of the letters of the alphabet. Two columns, with A-Z in each one. Then, as I come up with a name, I'll put the first name in one column and the last name in the other. This has nothing to do with who the characters are -- it's simply a way to track names to make sure they're not too similar. And, on the advice of author Jeremiah Healy, I do everything I can NOT to use the intials of my h/h -- first OR last -- for any other characters in the book. So, for Finding Sarah, Sarah Tucker, the heroine, would mean I wouldn't use any S or T names.

The importance of this came when I was writing a scene for Hidden Fire. I had three characters having lunch, talking about a 4th. As I started typing Langley, Lalone and Laughlin, I realized I needed to do some renaming.

In the books and manuscripts I've been reading, I came across one with an Alex, and Aaron and an Anna in the same book. Also a Sophie and a Sabrina. In another one, there were two major characters, one named Mike and one named Mack. One was a first name, one a last, but the frequent use of the last name kept stopping me to make sure I knew who I was reading about.

And I suppose that just like 'real' names go through popularity cycles, so do fictional ones. I've seen lots of "S" heroines lately. I had 2 Sophies, a Samantha and a Sarah in recent reads. And three Jacks (one was a Jackson, though, but nobody called him that).

How do you feel about character names when you read? Do you even have trouble remembering who's who? Do you care if you can't pronounce the name?

Counting Down to South Africa T minus 9

What I'm reading: The Witness by Sandra Brown

What I'm writing: "THE END!"

Yes, finally! I "finished" last night. This morning, I made the last-minute changes to the manuscript, which now has a name only slightly better than Book 6 -- Hidden Fire. I had to change a bunch of character names. Not good to have 3 major players with similar names, which I know, but somehow wasn't thinking when I named them. I got to a scene with all three of them in it, and it hit me smack in the face. However, by then, I 'knew' them by those names, so I finished the book before deciding what I'd call them.

It's not a polished manuscript, but my editor knows my writing and should be able to decide if it's worth accepting. If it's inside the ballpark, we'll take it from there.

Yesterday's plans took a detour when I called the tour company to find out where our final travel documents were. "On the FedEx truck." Since the delivery window was 8 AM to 7 PM, and they had to be signed for, I had to postpone all the 'out of the house' chores and errands.

The other glitch was their "minor" change in wording about needing malaria meds. While their first guidelines said simply to check with your physician, and according to all the websites, malaria isn't a problem in South Africa, we assumed we would be fine without it. However, the final instructions say they 'require' it. Deeper research indicates we might be better off with yellow fever shots, too, because our plane refuels in an airport that falls within the 'if you're going to this country, you need proof of immunization.' We're not supposed to be getting off the plane, but at this point, I suppose it's smarter to get the shots. Too bad none of this was clear from the beginning. At any rate, all the checking was one more slowdown.

Now I can work on more edits for When Danger Calls.

Off to do all the things I wanted to do yesterday -- including a little food shopping. Of course, today, it's raining.