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The Right Name
I have a writer friend who will spend weeks finding just the right name for her characters. To her, the name is one of the most important thing about a character. She associates the name with who they are inside.
I've been known to change a major character's name halfway through the book. And once I'm done with a book, I sometimes have trouble remembering the characters' names.
Now, I don't think this means I love my characters any less, only that for me the name is less important. It's a way to refer to a character, but for me the name is not the character. This may have some relation to the fact that in real life I have a very difficult time remembering people's names. I can picture the person and what they are like, but I don't always connect that with the label that is their name.
When I name characters, I try to choose something appropriate for their age and where they live. I like names that are easy to remember and spell and maybe a little unusual but not too far out there.
The hero and hero of my January Superromance, The Father For Her Son, are Marlee and Troy. Marlee is a little unusual, but it's the name of a friend's daughter and I really like it. Troy to me is a strong man's name — short, easy to spell.
My novella "Melting Point" in the January collection Baby, It's Cold Outside! takes place in Iceland and the hero is Icelandic, so I had to give him an Icelandic name. I read a lot of fascinating information on how Icelanders are named and decided to name him. Kristjan Gunnarson. Of the many Icelandic names I considered, this was one of the easiest to spell and pronounce. My heroine is Stacy Bristol. I like the name Stacy and it sounded right for my heroine.
How important are character names to you? Have you ever disliked a book because of the names of the characters?
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THE FATHER FOR HER SON Harlequin Superromance
January 2010
Life hasn't been easy for single mom Marlee Britton, but she's proud of her ability to look after herself and her son. Then old flame Troy Denton shows up after seven years, wanting to be a father to his son. and to rekindle his relationship with Marlee. While Troy struggles to prove himself trustworthy, Marlee wonders how she can ever give her heart to the man who broke it so long ago.
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MELTING POINT" in BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE with Jennifer Greene and Merline Lovelace
Harlequin Anthology
January 2010
Kristjan Gunnarson is Iceland's first ever Olympic medalist. Coloradoan Stacy Bristol thinks he'll be the perfect model for her new advertising campaign, but she isn't prepared for the impact handsome Kristjan has on her. As she supervises filming around Iceland, Stacy fights her attraction to Kristjan. Can a down-to-business American and a footloose Icelander find love in the land of ice and fire?
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Bio:
Cindi Myers became one of the most popular people in eighth grade when she and her best friend wrote and illustrated their own historical romance novel. The manuscript was eventually confiscated by her English teacher, who told her she should spend her time learning to properly conjugate a sentence. Since then, Cindi has gone on to write more than three dozen novels, both historical and contemporary. She also teaches writing and is a popular speaker and workshop presenter. She produces a weekly market newsletter at http://www.cindimyersmarketnews.wordpress.com Visit her website
Contest:
One lucky blogger will receive a signed copy of Father of her son. So stop by and say hello. Please check back on Wednesday if you are the lucky winner. You will have 7 days to contact me.
9 comments:
Hi Cindi,
Nice to see you here!!! I always like to read about authors I haven't read before. My wish list is getting way out of proportion.....well, my birthday is coming up sooon....hehe!!!!
Valerie
in Germany
Great post. Re names: I write mostly specfic and the names have to feel otherworldy to me but not too flowery: Satha, Ktwala, Nahas, Psal, Ephan. My characters also tend to have several nicknames. In Wind Follower, my specfic novel, the main character is named Loic (his father's clan mispronounces the name his mother's clan gave him, Loayiq.) But he's also called Loicuyo, Cuyo, Half-moon eyes, wind follower, and the young chief. In my YA WIP, the main character is Ben. But his French friends call him Benoit, one best friend calls him Benjy and also "the cleric," his maid calls him Benito, his mom calls him Bin Jae, his dad calls him Son. My villains tend to have four-letter names: Wian, Noam, Gaal. Don't know why.
Hi Cindi, and congrats on your two releases. As a fan of SuperRomance I'm particularly looking forward reading T Father for Her Son. Marlee and Troy sound like great characters.
I'm not really difficult in terms of name. I do have a soft spot for Nicks and Jacks it's true. But otherwise I like them all.
Errrrrr actually not ALL... I'm french and for some reasons I hate reading about a french character. So Alain, Stephane, Jacques... don't generally appeal to me. I love american heroes with good american names ;-)
Congrats again !
Character names aren't very important to me. I've never disliked a book because of character names.
welcome to the LR&M blog, Cindi. Best wishes,
Penny
Naming my characters drives me crazy. I've read through baby naming books dozens of times looking for the "right" names. I've printed out social security lists by years, so as to choose appropriate names in context of history. It's a challenge. In the end, I tend to go for the shorter, strong masculine names like Zack, Rick, Nick, Jake. The hero of my February book is Dan Delito, an NFL quarterback. It's nice to visit with you, Cindi.
I loved hearing how everyone comes up with names. Linda -- I never thought of social security lists for names!
Carole, your process is fascinating. I would feel really challenged to come up with other-worldly names like that. Yet, as you say, they fit the type of stories you're writing.
Sorry that I am late with announcing the winner, but my internet was down the whole week.
The winner is Emanuelle!
Big congrats, I forwarded your e-mail addy to Cindy.
Thank you !!!! ;-)
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