Naming characters

Another frequent question I get is how do I name my characters. Let's start with some of "the rules."

Rule 1 - don't name two characters with the same name, or the same first initial.  This avoids confusion. Also, don't name characters with "rhyming" names, like Eddie and Betty, or Terry and Mary.  I did read a book once that had two characters with the same first name. One of them was killed off about halfway through, so I was thoroughly confused when the second one showed up without warning.

Rule 2 - be conscious of the visual a certain name provides. If you name a character John Wayne, your readers won't see a businessman in a suit. Iconic names will immediately bring something to mind. Make sure your character's name matches the image you want to project. "Susie" isn't likely to be mean and nasty, whereas "Susan" might want to be treated with respect. "Sue" might be an easy-going person.

Rule 3 - avoid giving a character two first names (another rule I flubbed starting out). John Thomas. Christian Scott. People will confuse which name is the first one and which is the last.

So where do I get my character names? Well, let's face it. the ones that come immediately to mind are used quickly, and I have to keep a character map to keep from reusing them (and I will admit I failed in a couple of places when I was first starting out). Two of my favorite "man" names are Tom and Bill (no, I don't know why), and those two names continue to creep in on me. I now have a database of names that I have used and which books I used them in. This helps for continuity in a series, and it helps from using repetitive names or alliterate names (with the same first letter). So now that I've used Tom and Bill, where do I go to find another name?

There are baby books, and when I've been searching for something ethnic, I go that route first: "What is an Irish boy name?" Some people use names of the teachers they had in grade school, or people they've met briefly. One of my writing buddies had someone she worked with ask to be put into one of her novels. (I have friends like that, too!) It's a name, it doesn't have to be who that person is. I've used disc jokey names. I've opened a phone book. I've gone walking in a cemetery. I've even taken last names from street signs. And my most recent favorite place to get names? Professional sports. I've combed through the World Cup soccer teams, I've stolen a couple from the NFL. I've borrowed some from baseball and some from basketball. Generally, I cross-match first and last names to prevent association with the real-life counterparts (who are donating nothing more than their names). And then there are the ever-popular middle names. My grandmother's middle name, etc.

Usually, I pick out my characters' names first, and the story tends to revolve around them. The names speak to me as loudly as my concept does, and there have been times I've had to change the names. The story I'm working on now started out with Elisa and Tom (! - go figure, Tom? Maybe that's like "every Tom, Dick and Harry?") I've already overused Tom, so I had to change out my main character's name. I think the new name works! And Elisa is parallel to Marissa (from the first in the series, a character who figures prominently in the second in the series), so her name had to change, too. I think my characters are happy with their new names, and along with recording the names I've used, I'm now recording new names to use as they come to me to make my life easier as I work on new stories!

Fan question of the day - Where do you draw your inspiration?

This is a question that comes up frequently. Where do you get your ideas? Are the characters in your book "real"? Which all comes back to where do you get your inspiration? My hairdresser used to ask me every time I went to visit her. For her, it's amazing that I can come up with names and places and situations. For me, it's second nature.

I draw inspiration from a moment in time. Something I see. Someone I see. My stories generally revolve around that one moment in time. Imagination is a beautiful thing, and it creates a story around that moment. My heroes/heroines don't come from big screen heartthrobs so much as an identifying characteristic I see in someone I know, or while people watching.

Here are examples of story origins, examples that show up only briefly in the final product.

Touched by the Sun - Pompeii, and the Holy Grail. The "moment" was connecting the two after watching a Nova show on volcanos, and then an Indiana Jones movie. A light bulb went off when I realized St. Paul had been in southern Italy a believable period of time after the Last Supper.

Living Canvas happened because of a picture I bought (like the one on the book cover). I bought it because I could see myself sitting in that painting. It was very like a place I'd spent a lot of time at growing up, staring over the water. It was peaceful. The concept of inserting myself into a painting brought on memories of Night Gallery, a T.V. show I watched growing up, and somehow the two meshed together to become the story.

Mist on the Meadow started with a "moment of grace." Something that caught my eye that made the world stop spinning for just a moment: a buck standing at the edge of the woods on a winter day, huffing so that it's breath made a cloud in the early morning air.

Heart for Rent, with an Option started with a walk through a french market in... France. The fresh produce, the tangy, freshly-ground spices. The town of Aix-en-Provence.

Return to Hoffman Grove. I'm going to embarrass myself if I tell you the moment from this book. It's there, in the book. I had a Facebook conversation with my former tennis coach which sent me reminiscing down memory lane and there it was, front and center, a random memory from my time on the tennis team.

I've purposely left out Intimate Distance, mainly because I wrote that during a very dark period in my life. There is a moment, but I'd rather keep that one to myself.

This is the place where I remind you that although I draw on personal experiences when I formulate my books, they are not autobiographical (except, maybe, for that one moment). I read a quote recently where people tend to assume authors write about themselves, unless you tell them that something is autobiographical, in which case they tend to NOT believe you. My stories are made up. They're all in my head. Fiction. I sometimes include "truth is stranger than fiction" moments, which have made people call me out with "that would never happen" (but it did). I had one friend blush after reading Living Canvas because she said she pictured me as Audrey. Nope. Not me. Yes, I traveled to the places I wrote about, but no, I did not meet a handsome stranger during my journeys and end up living happily ever after.

Don't get me wrong, I am living my happily ever after, but the Big Guy doesn't make an appearance in any of my stories. I'm keeping him all to myself.

Binge reading ... and what's next

I'm at the stage between books. All the things I've been neglecting while trying to perfect my latest love child are staring me in the face. "Spring cleaning" the house, catching up on my favorite authors, visiting friends and venturing into the outside world.

I dusted my house. Top to bottom. Cupboard fronts, door panels, everything. It's a start.

I'm reading +Jill Shalvis, adding the rest of the series that I haven't read to my wish list so I make sure to read them all. Was reading one last night and had a laugh out loud moment, which prompted the Big Guy to look up from his Kindle Fire to ask what I was laughing about. The book.

Had lunch with one of my dearest friends.

And in a couple of weeks, I'll be meeting and greeting at the Elgin Literary Festival.

But an author's work is never done. While I'm fine tuning, waiting on my critique group to catch up, and preparing Gathering Mist for the editor, I'm thinking ahead to "what's next."

A few years back, I wrote a book that I shelved. Epitaph. It's a ghost story, and a love story. But it was deeply flawed in several places. At the time, I wasn't sure how to fix it, so I set it aside and moved on. The story still haunts me (hah! a ghost story haunting me!), and I'd like to fix those flaws. I keep telling myself it will be next up when I find myself short of story ideas.  WHOOPS! No shortage of story ideas? So now I'm doing a balancing act again.

Remember when I mentioned, before I started writing Return to Hoffman Grove, that I couldn't decide between Cinda's story and Kundigerin 2? And then Cinda tapped me on the shoulder, demanding page time. Decision made. And now? I'm trying to decide between THREE stories. Kundigerin 3 - Max's story, fixing Epitaph, and the idea that keeps nagging me about Tromp L'Oeil. The first two are no brainers, I know the stories, just have to put them down, so it makes sense to tackle them -- plus people reading the Kundigerin series who are enjoying it might be anxious to see that resolved. But it's the tromp l'oeil story that has been occupying my mind.

Friends, fans, readers, anyone care to push me in one direction or the other?

1. Kundigerin 3 - Max's story. Finish the Kundigerin trilogy. Marissa and Wolf have two new friends, (you'll meet them in Kundigerin 2) and the four of them need to stop an evil genius. The plan right now is that it will be told from Max's point of view (Marissa's little brother) - he is the new secret keeper and has to chronicle the family legacy, along with the confrontation that is to come.

2.  Epitaph - a haunted house ghost story about a willowy young woman and a newspaper feature writer, haunted by the newspaper guy's dead sister and chased by her killer.

3.  Murals - a mural artist paints to escape a troubled past. This romance will not be a paranormal.

Anyone care to weigh in?

Stepping out into the world

Next month, I will be taking part in the Elgin Literary Festival, an event organized to promote literacy and celebrate the written word. I will be in stellar company, including the NYT best-selling author, Simone Elkeles (and if you've ever met her/seen her/heard her, you know she's a hoot. I swear this woman has no filters). She's the keynote speaker, and every address I've heard her deliver has been highly entertaining (if slightly "blue").

Authors, by nature, tend to be introverted sorts, so stepping out into the limelight can be overwhelming. I've posted on this blog before about "gearing up" to meet people. I'm not painfully shy, although I am the one who would prefer to stand quietly in the corner of a room and observe rather than step up and introduce myself to everyone at a party.

I am always happy to meet the people who buy my books, happy to introduce newcomers to what I've written. I'm excited to be part of a panel at this event, which more or less puts me "on stage." Excited by the opportunity, and yet it will require a skill I've only developed within the last ten years (and probably only six, but who's counting?): speaking when I have something to say.

As the youngest of four girls, I grew up in the shadow. Don't speak unless spoken to. Mine was the fourth (and therefore least important) opinion. For years, I deferred to my older, and therefore wiser, sisters. Eventually, we all grew up. I'm not that mouse in the corner anymore.

In my professional life, I was able to speak to people individually with ideas, but often struggled in large groups. Those individuals helped me to break out of that. One friend in particular encouraged me to share my "great ideas" with the group. I credit one of my mentors/bosses with giving me the opportunity to prove myself, and there were enough "individuals" who'd heard my voice to push me forward and give me the confidence to speak to the groups.

As an author, I've been able to translate this confidence into approaching people I don't know, especially at events like this one. If they're at a literary festival, that means they like books. I write books, what a coincidence! Instantly, we have something in common, something to talk about. And if they like MY books, well, that's a bonus. And that's what keeps an author writing.

Baby its cold outside!

As I'm trying to think of what words of wisdom/glimmers of brilliance I can share today, the only thing I can think is BABY ITS COLD OUTSIDE.

Ruby's @ Bryce Canyon, 5/2013

I'm a summer person. I don't mind the 90 degree heat (although I could live without humidity and be much happier). I'm not going to complain about how hot I am during the summer, and that's because of days like today. Arctic air is spilling down into the Midwestern United States. We've had a relatively mild spell, and not much snow to worry about, but we couldn't escape winter forever.

So my mind wanders to other times and places to escape the lethal wind chills. Like my visit to Utah, during the spring, when the weather was changeable. Warm and 70 one day, 32 and snowing the next. Or Arizona at 110 degrees at 10 p.m. That's the thing about the United States. We get it all, from the arctic tundra, to the sizzling deserts and everything in between.

But enough whining, complaining, shivering. Still working on edits for Kundigerin 2. I think I have all the plot holes filled, so now it comes down to readability, flow, and then to the "fine grit" sandpaper of pulling out overused words, unnecessary words, etc. So I better get back to it.

Anon

Happy New Year!

Greetings and felicitations.

Keeping this post short because I'm BUSY EDITING and must maintain focus. So first, let me wish everyone a Happy New Year. A fresh start, a new beginning. Celebrate safely.

The first draft of Kundigerin 2, tentatively titled Gathering Mist, is complete and I'm working through the kinks. Have to say I'm happy with the end result, even as I worried that I was meandering aimlessly through for a while. That doesn't mean I haven't botched some of the details, which now have to be corrected and cleaned up. I'm on my editor's calendar for the end of February, so release date is looking like sometime in April. I'll keep you posted. And for some reason, the main characters' names aren't sticking, mostly as a result of "writing rules." Marissa and Wolf will make an encore appearance from Mist on the Meadow and will be joined by their new friends.

I wrote my first royalty split check to the crisis center for the first quarter after the release date of Return to Hoffman Grove. The book has been getting positive reviews to date and I hope that if you've read it, you will leave a review of your own and tell your friends to buy a copy. I will continue to split royalties for the first two quarters of 2015 with the crisis center. If you're concerned that the story is about domestic abuse and might be heavy-handed, that part of the story is a subplot, a cause for Cinda to champion. Domestic violence is addressed, but it does not take over the story. Those people who hated Cinda in Living Canvas have reported back that they loved her in Return to Hoffman Grove! Please help me in supporting the crisis center and buy a copy of the book. You're not only helping a good cause, you're getting a good read.

And now, back to work. The Kundigerinen are battling evil forces to save the world!

Recreational Reading

Yes, I know it's Christmas Eve, but I posted my Christmas wishes last week (and am happy to repeat them again this week!). Merry Christmas!

True confession time. I used to HATE reading Harlequin romances. Why? Their editors weren't very thorough. When I'd read them, I'd spend more time noticing the mistakes than reading the book.  The stories often didn't hold my interest enough for me to overlook the problems. And that was before I became a copyeditor at the day job, before I got serious about my own writing and KNEW what to look for.

Harlequin has come a long way. I still wouldn't jump to them as a brand for a first read, but they have spawned some of my favorite authors, and I do believe their editors have increased in caliber.

Along those same lines, I've come a long way. When I read a book, I want to get lost in it. I don't want to pick at the quality. The single most important advice I would give to an indie author is to get an independent editor. A REAL editor, not your best friend or your mom. As an author, we know what the book is supposed to say, so doing self-editing works to a point, but speaking from experience, every time I read one of my books, I find one more thing I missed the last time. It's a vicious cycle. So finding that editor, a disinterested third party, gives you another level of quality control.

I've read several books over the past few years that had good stories, but the editing was so horrific that I couldn't recommend them. As a society and with the advent of indie publishing, we are seeing more of those old-style Harlequin novels, but readers are more sophisticated. In addition to noticing the typographical errors, they know when you haven't developed your characters, when your dialog isn't working, when your settings are one-dimensional. And yet, I read Jane Eyre a couple of years ago. We're talking classic literature, and the writing was very shabby in parts, and yet Jane was such a compelling character that readers can overlook the rough spots in favor or a stellar story.

At the day job, I've been interviewing candidates for a proofreading position. Many of them were English teachers or had degrees in English, leading to some very interesting discussions off-topic on literature. What makes a book required reading in our schools? Who decides what makes a classic? And some of the books are so dry, so stale, so "against the rules" from a technical standpoint, that even the teachers hate reading them.

Traditional publishers still hold the power of a compelling read. They have the quality assurance processes in place to make sure you get the best book possible, without short-cutting it. I like to take chances on indie authors, and have found many that I enjoy without the switch flipping in my head from reader to editor. But there are still too many who have the skills, but don't realize that it's nearly impossible to edit your own work.

I've read reviews on some of the books I purchased for my holiday binge reading session, and some of the comments are very insightful. As I mentioned, readers are much more discerning these days. They are more educated. Some can be overly critical. One more reason for indie authors to make sure they are presenting the best book possible.

I have a review page on my blog - but I don't always post reviews there on the books I read. For one, recently a book blogger came under criticism for expressing her opinion. Some authors don't like to hear the truth, and feel they can strike back when someone doesn't like their book. You know what? It's all subjective. Thank you for taking the time to read my books. Not everyone will like them. BUT that doesn't give you license to take a pot shot just for the helluvit. As I mentioned, I've recently read several "good" books that would have done much better with an editor's tutelage. I did write reviews at the request of the authors, and I tried to highlight the good things, but to be fair, readers need to know what they're getting into, so I feel obligated to point out the shortcomings (I try to be gentle). When the editing isn't there, many readers will give up without reaching the end. I know I would have, if I hadn't been asked for the review. (I'm also OCD about finishing what I start.) And not everyone will like every book. Some just aren't my cup of tea, even when they are well written.

But enough rambling on for today. My favorite high school required reading book was "When the Legends Die." Yeah, I liked the Iliad, and I liked the King Arthur book, too. But most of the rest of it was torture. Now I'm looking forward to my recent book purchases that will keep me curled up in the corner on the upcoming winters days/nights.

Which "required reading" book do you remember most?