The Anxiety of Naming a Character

**My theme for this year’s A to Z Challenge is THE NAME GAME. Everything you’d want to know about naming characters. I’m also going to attempt (miserably) to tie in today’s post with my post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. Click the link to find out more!**

So you have a character. You’ve got the beginnings of a story planned out—things that will happen to him, people he’ll come across, decisions he’ll have to make. Maybe you already know what he looks like, who his friends and family are, his hobbies, hopes and dreams. But there is one very basic thing that you need to figure out in order to convey this character to your readers. Your character needs a name.

But what if you don’t have a name for him yet? The first thing I would say is: DON’T PANIC. Oh, you’re not panicking? Well, I had to tie this post in with insecurity somehow, so pretend you’re panicking!

Ok, so first, calm down. There are going to be several things that you’ll need to figure out while writing this particular story. Some can be easy, others can be difficult. Figuring out a name for your character could be either of these. Sometimes a name will just pop into your head like the actual character told you himself. Other times it could take weeks or longer to figure out. You could go through lists and websites and every resource you can find of names, never seeming to find the one that feels just right.

But seriously, don’t panic. Think about all the factors that could help you make a decision. What kind of character is he? When does the story take place? What are his parents like? You have to think of your character as a living, breathing person, and not just a figment of your imagination. What sort of influences from his family and culture would be used when he was given a name?

Perhaps the most important thing is to listen to your character. You’ll know when a name feels right, and when it doesn’t. Maybe the first name you come up with won’t be quite right and it will have to change. Maybe you’ll need to start writing the story before the name comes to you. But eventually you will figure it out and your character will have a name.

Do you ever panic when naming a character? Stay tuned for more in depth posts on the different aspects of naming characters!

Writing About Music

I can't believe this is my last blog post before the A to Z Challenge! Still haven't decided if I'm also doing IWSG on Wednesday. It will probably depend on how much I get done for the challenge. Although not getting enough done is certainly something to be insecure about! Now I'm thinking I could totally turn my first post, basically an intro on naming characters, into an IWSG post as well. Because if you can't figure out your character's name, you'd be insecure, right?

Anyway, before I keep rambling for this entire post, I wanted to talk about something that's a part of my writing but I have the hardest time figuring out. And that thing is music. A lot of my characters are musicians, but I find it's a hard thing to pull off when all you're only working with words.

At this point I don't even remember when I decided that Jordan would be a singer, but now it's such an important part of how I see him as a character, I don't think I could take it out. And if I do end up writing (ok, publishing. I'm definitely going to write them) these two sequels, it becomes even more important. So I do kind of need to plant those first seeds in the first book, even though it obviously isn't the most important thing that happens.

I've really overanalyzed it and figured it out from a symbolic standpoint, and I think it does work. My problem is that I don't think I executed it properly. I can't exactly go to every reader and explain why it's symbolic. If they don't get it, then it at least needs to work enough within the story so that it doesn't throw them off. I don't want them to be asking, "why is this even here?"

It's a difficult thing to do. How do you even describe a singing voice? If my characters write a song, should I actually put the lyrics in the book? Not to mention the fact that I have pretty much zero musical talent. I could probably write a poem and try to make it sound more like a song, but that would take quite some time. But if the reader can't actually hear the song, is there a point to reading the lyrics? What is actually important to include?

I'm still trying to figure it out. I want it to make sense to the reader but not seem pointless and stupid. And I still need to come up with a name for Jordan's band, which is so hard to do! Luckily I don't need it for the first book, so I don't have to figure it out anytime soon. But it's just another thing to add to the list!

Have you ever written about music in one of your stories? How would you decide on a band name?

A Week in Tweets

I had several different ideas for what to blog about today. Too many, actually. I could probably talk for days about this third book idea, or the characters in it who I'm obsessing over. And then I realized I've been tweeting a lot this week. Much more than usual. And I figured I've already mentioned every topic I'd like to bring up over there, so maybe I'll bring the tweets to the blog!

Lazy, you say? Pfft. I had to take screenshots of all of these! Which is kinda why I limited it to ten. But here's pretty much all that's been going on since Monday...

1. A seemingly insignificant character decides to do a seemingly insignificant thing, and then suddenly you have a whole freaking novel.

2. Tweeting under the influence.

3. You guys are silly. First of all, Jordan. Duh. And then as I came to realize (and rant for several tweets more), half of my family, people I know, favorite celebrities and authors have J names. Also, I was still a little tipsy. 

4. Gizmo has a milestone! And I'm slightly concerned!

5. Oh, Adam, I love you. I should probably give you a last name. Or a flaw...

6. THE WORST THING EVER. 

7. My 3000th tweet! Also the (maybe) first line for this third book! 

8. Kind of my favorite line of dialogue from the 5 pages I've already written (because I'm crazy). 

9. My iPhone is stalking me...

10. A very important question from a very important person. 

Well, that's about it. Hopefully it was interesting! Anyone have any good tweets this week? 

Should I Make My Book a Series?

I have completely lost my mind. Not only that, but I've also gotten so ahead of myself that it's a bit ridiculous.

Ok, so usually when you come up with an idea for a book, all of your focus is on that book. You write it once, twice, maybe three times, trying to figure everything out and get it right. It could take a long time, but you know how important this one book is to you. But what happens once the story is done? Is that it? Do you just move on to the next idea, new characters, new everything? Or does the MC from your first book attach himself to your brain like a leech and you just have to keep going and figure out what happens to him next?

I have been on the fence for well, forever, when it comes to the idea of writing a sequel (or sequels) to Uneven Lines. The book can certainly stand on its own. But on the other hand, the thought of just giving up on Jordan drives me a little nuts. I don't really want to. I want to keep going with his story. I've had an idea for a sequel in my head for a while, but I've always worried if it was going to be good enough to stand up to the first book. The biggest problem, though, was that I had no idea where this story would end. Would I just keep writing sequels for the rest of my life? There had to be some way to wrap it up, but I had no idea how.

So then the complete insanity happened. I was hoping that being in New York City would inspire me somehow (since it's where the book takes place), but like the little bastard that he is, Jordan decided to take the inspiration in an entirely different direction. No, I did not figure out how to fix the last third of UL, but I did completely plot out a third and final book for a potential series. My first thought was, "THIS IS ALL WRONG." And the more I thought about it, the more I was thinking, "No wait, IT'S PERFECT." So I spent most of the time feeling very inspired and yet very confused.

The obvious cons of this story: it involves a love triangle (because that's never been done before), lots and lots and lots of characters for me to keep track of, and a cheesy five years later "oh my God, look how successful everyone is" epilogue (I'm gonna go ahead and blame the Glee finale for putting that idea in my head). But I'm still figuring it out, so I can change all the stupid parts. And when I first started figuring this story out, I spent half the day with absolutely no idea who Jordan would end up with in the end, but then it dawned on me and it completely goes against everything I ever thought would happen if I took the story in this direction. But it just felt so right. I felt like I had finally figured it out. And I realized that Jordan does in fact become a rock star, which I couldn't figure out before but he wouldn't have it any other way. And I've also kinda started writing it already. Mostly just dialogue, but I keep actually hearing the words in my head and I just have to get them down.

So I'm kinda sorta completely in love with this third book idea, but I still don't know if I should do it. Should I just leave UL alone? Probably. Do I want to? Hell no. I guess I should just write it because I want to and it's in my head, and then maybe someday I'll figure out if anyone else gets to read it.

A to Z Theme Reveal

I wanted to get this done earlier, I swear, but I also had to sleep forever after coming back from our New York trip yesterday (which was fun! But no time to talk about that!). So I'm gonna try to bust this out real quick. It's finally the day for the A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal!!!

This was especially exciting for me because this is my second year doing the Challenge and last year I didn't have a theme. I was happy to actually come up with one, which will hopefully be entertaining as well as provide some writing tips.

Ok, drum roll please...the name for my theme this year is.......

The Name Game! 

Basically everything you could ever want or need to know (and some you didn't) about naming characters in your stories. This will include different types of names, different kinds of characters who need names, how you actually use a character's name within the story. I'll be including examples from books and other media, some ways I've used names in my own writing, and hopefully just some cool tips. And also the fourth installment in my Freaky Name Coincidences posts (because these things keep happening to me for some reason). 

I still need post ideas for the letters J and O but at least those aren't too early in the alphabet so I still have time to figure it out. I was thinking of having a post on naming characters after people you know and/or pop culture references, but I can't for the life of me get that idea to work for one of those letters. So thoughts are welcome. 

I should probably get back to actually working on my posts! Or unpacking my suitcase. But I'll be back on Wednesday to tell you all how I've lost my damn mind with a new book idea...

Blog Hop Help!

I know, I know, I said I probably wouldn't blog today. And if you're reading this, I'm most likely still on a bus right now. But I actually wrote this yesterday when I was struck with an idea and decided I really wanted some input.

So my 4th blogging anniversary (or blogiversary, or however you're supposed to spell it) is coming up at the end of May. I've thought for a while now that I'd want to do something to celebrate, probably some sort of blog hop or fest, but I felt my initial idea was a bit too complicated.

But anyway, I came up with another idea which I thought was simpler and could be a lot of fun! But I would really like to see what people think before I start really developing the idea.

I was initially going to call it "Have You Been Paying Attention?" but then I thought of a much better name: "The Great Blog Scavenger Hunt." (Or something along those lines). Basically the idea would be that anyone participating would ask a certain number of questions (maybe around 10?) to their blog followers, asking certain questions that they have at some point answered on their blog. Since I'm sure no one wants to spend their entire day hunting through old blog posts, I figured there could be levels of difficulty. Like, the easiest ones could be found on the first page or in your bio. Next hardest could be things you've mentioned several times. Hardest could be one time things. And the people guessing can answer however many of the questions they want.

Here's where I'm having some difficulty figuring it out, or maybe it's just becoming too complicated in my head. I don't really know what the end result will be. I had a thought that maybe I could go through all of the posts, find the person who answered the most correct questions, and that person gets an Amazon gift card from me or something. Also I wasn't sure about what should happen when someone gets the correct answer. Should the blogger update their post to say so? Or maybe that could be recommended but not required. If I do the prize thing, I would still be able to see who got the answer first. But at some point the blogger *would* have to list the correct answers, and I'm not sure if that's too much to ask of people. I also thought that if people weren't getting them all, you could put up hints.

Ok, I'm obviously putting way too much thought into this right now and I think I just have to step away from the idea for a bit. But what do you guys think? Would it be something you'd be interested in doing? How much would you be willing to do or how can I make it less complicated?

Or, my original idea was a sort of "muse party." I "host" a party on my blog where you can bring your muse or a character from one of your books. I'll provide a series of questions that you can answer on your blog (like, what are you guys wearing? Did you bring food or a gift? etc). Would that be easier? I thought I was leaning toward the new idea more, but the more I explained it, the simpler my original idea seems, and it kinda fits in with my blog more.

AGH. I don't know. I'm sorry I'm so awkward. But I would love any and all opinions on this!

Still Busy!

I had a good idea for a blog post, I swear. Actually, I had two! I thought I would write one of them for today and the other for Friday. But I'm kinda just not feeling it, and I'd rather save the good ideas for next week when I can actually pay attention to blogging. I still haven't even started packing for this weekend's trip. Yeah, so I should probably get on that.

The good news! I'm down to only needing posts for the letters J and O for the A to Z Challenge. I have a few ideas I'd like to use, but I'm not sure if I can make them work for these particular letters. Maybe I can talk about this more on Monday for the theme reveal and get some input.

The even better news! I have two 4+ hour bus rides this weekend and I'm hoping to get a lot of work done on my posts during this time. Or at least lots of reading. Or maybe both. I need to charge my Kindle before we leave. I have so many blogger buddies' books on there it's a bit ridiculous. I need to catch up. But hey, I'm a slow reader.

So I have a hunch that I won't be blogging on Friday. Or maybe I could write something on the bus on my phone. Right now I still have so much to get done but I just want to take a nap. Perhaps it's coffee time...