What's in a Name? How Do You Name Your Characters?

YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday #161, What's in a name?

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic is: The list of top baby names in 2012 had us talking about naming characters. How do you decide on names? Would you ever name a character after a friend/family member/ex?

When I began writing shorts and intro's to novels, I would always use the names of family and friends. My heart was in the right place, I thought, When this book becomes a world-wide best seller, [blank] will feel so loved because they are a character in my awesome story. And I tried it. I named characters after people I love, my kids, my friends, my family....but after trying this for many, many times, I realized that I had to break free of it.  The reason? Because it's limiting.

Primarily, this is because I find that if I name a character for someone I know, that character begins to act as the person I know would. Perhaps this is fine IF the character's nature is similar to the real counterpart, but often, I am melding various characteristics of many people or creating someone that I've never met and therefore, it becomes hard to keep the fictional person acting in tune when they hold the namesake of someone I know. So...sorry everyone, I love you but you'll have to settle for being in the credits and dedications.

Instead, I have used various methods. For main characters, I usually know their names as I am thinking about the concept for the story. They're as integral to the story line as the plot elements are. In my post-apocalyptic dystopian fantasy (unofficially referred to as "The Paragon", I chose the name "West Lambert" for the lead. Now, it is true that her last name is also the name of the airport in St. Louis and since I'm from Missouri that was a little bit of love for the Midwest, however, it has very little bearing on the story. West, however, does. The name invokes something a bit androgynous and strong. West is far from girly. She's brave and ready to blow where the wind takes her and for all her faults, she's a wise soul. It seemed fitting for her.

Some names, such as Laura "Lula" Fontaine, the character from my middle-grade fantasy novel, which I'm now calling "The Girl Who Lost Her Imagination and How She Came to Find It", had the right mix of somber and whimsy to make the plot elements work together. 

Sometimes it's trial and error- some of the supporting roles have names I change half-way through the rough draft, just to see how I like them when they're in use. For example, in "The Paragon," I changed Bastian's name from Benjamin about 20 pages in. I just got sick of writing it and it didn't feel right, so I switched it up. I have also looked up names from various eras and cultures and would consult a baby name website if I just needed a way to get the ideas flowing.

Naming characters is fun though. Once they have a name, they come to life. There's a lot in a name and if affects their personality, their actions, and the way other characters relate to them...just like in real life. 

If you want to share your process, tell us about it- create a post on your blog and post a link in the comments or, share what you decided to name your child and why...perhaps it was a family namesake, perhaps you liked the meaning? It's all creative wordplay and I love hearing from you!

I WON NaNoWriMo 2012! Now What?...

I can't believe it. After 30 days of writing abandon, we made it through. A relatively small number of us won the challenge and wrote a jaw-dropping 50,000 words during the month of November. Pat yourself on the back, raise a toast, eat a whole chocolate cake by yourself- what ever it takes to make you feel the weight of this accomplishment. That's a lot of work, people. It's 150 pages in a paperback novel- it's 100 times the length of the average college freshman English paper, and it required a daily commitment to put writing at the top of the list. Really. Wow.

But now what?!

You know you love my little naked stick person sitting at her 2D laptop. Hush!

Now we have ourselves 50,000 words (or more- you overachievers) but where do we go from here? Most of us are only half way up the ladder at this point. 50,000 words, although a trial to produce in a month's time, is not quite what most consider a full-length novel. But it's close! In the book Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham he states that the average novel is between 60-90,000 words finished to meet both minimum standards of most readers and maximum costs for publishing- though I'd wager those figures aren't set in stone...you're losing us A.B....

Ok, sorry- so what do you do now? The point of the previous paragraph was to let you know that if you're not quite done with your novel, then you're probably right on track. If you are done- well, that's fine too because next is....

That's right, ol' buddy ol' pal, when you finally get to "The End" you'll have to start over again at "Once Upon a Time" and rewrite your baby from start to finish again. This part is often dreaded, but I'm looking forward to it....perhaps I'm nuts. But I've gotten a lot of inspiration from fellow writers including Veronica Roth, Liz Schulte that are super first draft cheerleaders. "Just get it on paper," they say, "then fix it!" And I'm looking forward to fixing this one, because let me tell you- it's a MESS! 

I changed characters'  and places names half-way through, wrote scenes out of order, and flat out skipped portions that I didn't fully realize yet in favor of those that I did- all in a mad dash to scrape out my 50K- which worked, so I have no hard feelings but the re-read may just leave me scratching my head on where to begin. But for that, I have help- authors that have come before me and detailed their struggles and their tried and true ways to attack that monstrous first draft and make it a lovely best seller.

So, for those of you that have post-NaNo letdown and lots of free time now that you have cleared your calendar and created for yourself some mighty fine daily writing habits- enjoy a few days of free time, reconnect with your loved ones, feed your pets (actually, you should have done that the whole month, I forgot to tell you), or even write to fill that aching void, but come back. 

We can't just leave seedling masterpieces to rot in the dungeon, freeze in the rain, or collect dust like an old relic. They still need babying and lots of love to get where they want to be, CAN BE, and WILL BE-- on our book shelf in hardback!

Lots of writing love, A.B. Harms

Win or Lose, NaNoWriMo is Chicken Soup for the Writer's Soul

This month has been a fog of 4:30 a.m. writing sessions and coffee induced hallucinations. I've been neglecting my blog, getting up before the rooster (I assume anyway, I don't have one), staying up late, avoiding wine, keeping my "thinking pad" with me at all times, and all for what you ask? For NaNoWriMo, duh!

In case you are not already aware, NaNoWriMo is something that I am doing for the first time this November, which is National November Writing Month (hence the catchy acronym, which I often shorten to NaNo, which often makes me think of Mork of Mork and Mindy, but I digress...)  In this month, it is my goal to write 50,000 words (that's like a paperback novel of at least 140 pages, people!) before midnight on November 30, which is truly hard to accomplish because this month my stomach also has very important plans involving turkey, pie, and family coming in town.

But what does NaNo really do? What do I win? Well, oh ye writer-who-feels-the-need-to-get-paid-before-producing-a-final-product, here is my answer to you. (I know this answer because I am just now finding out myself) You get lots.

For starters, it's fun. We writers, well, we like to write. Whether we win or not, we get to write the beginning, middle, end, or some variation thereof of a story that began as gray matter, no matter how great or awful it is. Like musicians live to play, writers live to write. Having a reason to write just makes it all the better and joining in a worldwide writing challenge is a GREAT reason.

Secondly, our book could be the next big thing! Perhaps in that part of us that believes that we are the awesomest writers ever and we just need our chance to shine, we hold out that hope that ours can become one of the wonderful books started during NaNo. It could end up on the shelf of Barnes and Noble, get a movie deal, or have actual merchandise like bookmarks, popcorn tins, and scrunchies (my hair is too short for them, but I still remember) that become ads in SkyMall. How sweet would that be?

I personally believe that the best reason is that it makes us better writers. The more you write, the more your skills develop, and by writing 50,000 words in a single month (or at least trying to), you create some hardcore writing habits that may pave your way to success. Statistically, if you keep trying, it has to happen eventually, right? That's my thought anyway. 

Before NaNo, I was lucky to write 500 words a day, if anything at all. But now, if I write less than 1500 words, the day is a wash. Seriously, 1500 words?! That's a lot- but I raised the bar for myself because now I have achieved over 4,000 words in a day (while raising kids and cooking dinner- though arguably, not doing dishes). Whew!

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

So far, I have pressed myself farther than ever this month- and it's barely half way through! Even if there's no movie and no scrunchies, I feel that the benefit that it has brought me will last forever.

For anyone that is doing NaNo with me this year or has done it in the past, let us know what you think, how does it benefit you, if not just for bragging rights, what makes you strive to be a part of the winner's circle?

"NaNo NaNo" everyone!