I’ve been writing on a new project, and it’s going well enough, but something about it has always felt a little . . . distant, I guess. Like I was outside looking in instead of telling the story through the eyes of the characters. Though, really, it was just one character giving me trouble. The other two viewpoints zinged. I loved writing their scenes. And I loved writing most of the third character’s scenes, too, but they didn’t feel right. Which, in a way, is okay. This character is the one with the most at stake, the most to come to terms with, so she’s not exactly comfortable in her own skin as the story opens.
Then I got to a scene where her shell cracks a bit, and I still wasn’t warming up to her. And after about four days spent writing around this scene, rather than diving in – and it’s not even a particularly emotionally draining scene – I realized her name was all wrong. It was too stiff and formal and old-fashioned. Or something. I thought it was perfect when I started. I did see her as someone who set herself apart. Not because she thinks herself better than others, but because she doesn’t know how to fit in. Part of me says I should leave the name and show how she can . . . not grow into it exactly, but not let it define her either. She needs to own it and mold it to fit who she is. Except the minute I changed it, she warmed up.
Giving my characters their names is the first thing I do when I start a project. Naming them opens their personality. They’re no longer blank slates. They have a history. Someone in their past gave birth to them and thought this name would see them through their lives. (Yes, I know they’re imaginary, but it’s what I do.) So to change a character’s name 15K words into a project . . . it’s not like me, and yet, it’s the only thing I could do in this case. I can see her and understand her now that she’s more approachable. I want to tell her story. I get her now and am excited to finish this scene.
If you write, how do you feel about character names? I had to change the name of Trey Davis in A LONG, HARD RIDE and that was tough. Obviously, I got through it, but it wasn’t easy. This one was more so. And it’s been an interesting lesson!
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Names are my nemesis in writing. With each new story I start, I might know one name before I begin writing. One.
I name people HERO and HEROINE or HERNAME and HISNAME and BADGUY (just like that, all in caps, makes the find-and-replace go faster later) until I choose something.
I can waste hours staring at baby name sites trying to just choose something that works for my characters. My latest attempt is outright Fantasy, and it’s almost easier to come up with a completely made-up name than try to choose from “real” ones.
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It’s so interesting how we all work. I never have a title for any of my books, but I have to have my people’s names. (And fyi, I’ve changed my heroine’s name again, but just to a different version of the same name, Kaylie to Kayla.) But I totally get the made up names. I have a fun side project going and those names haven’t given me any trouble at all!
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I change character names very reluctantly, and often because I seem to choose names that start with the same letter. In my current WIP I’ve got four or five different C names, and for a while the H/h both had M names. I’m going to fix this, of course, but not in the middle of the WIP. I know who they all are, LOL. I’ll change the names when the project’s done!
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I was going to do that with Trey Davis, but found I couldn’t move forward until he was right, LOL! Yeah, names are my hang up!
And in the current WIP, I had two women starting with L, and two men starting with T. Hate when I do that. Even I was getting confused!