by Alison Janssen
Ok, first off, sorry to any and all who watch this video and then have the song stuck in their heads forever:
But it's kinda related to the topic at hand, and I like that song.
I want to know how you name your characters. This part of writing has always fascinated me, because as a reader, some names just seem to *fit,* and I wonder about the chicken and the egg.
Do you name your protagonist, et al, right from the start, and write their personalities to match their names? Or do you start out with placeholders, and write about Dimples and JoJo for the first draft, then Find/Replace better names when you get to the end?
Do you use a phone book, a baby name book, or an intricate system involving a Twister spinner, a bowl full of water and a candle?
As a reader, are there names that resonate with you, that just *feel* right?
How about names that take you out of the story and have you laughing and flinging the book against a wall? (This happens to me often when I read fantasy/sci-fi, and the names have lots of apostrophes. T'Penr'Jar'le and all that.)
Share your thoughts about names -- and for those of you en route to Chicago and Love is Murder, I hope you've remembered your photobooth strips!
