Pick a name!

I’m really picky about the names I choose for the characters in my stories. If I don’t get the right names in my head from the start, my writing falters. I can’t use the names of anyone I know just in case they think I’m writing about them. Not a problem in many genres – there are a few people I wouldn’t mind murdering – on paper of course - but in erotic romance I’m not so sure my friends would want to be the woman writhing on my pages or the woman sandwiched between two guys or the guy with a big... well maybe they would. But if I picked the name of a pal,I’d have them in my head when I was writing and that won’t work.

What do readers think of the names we pick for our heroes and heroines? Does it put you off the story if the names don’t give the right vibe? Not liking a character’s name wouldn’t stop me reading a book – well unless it was Smedley Ponsonby-Farte perhaps. Apologies to any Smedleys reading! But the time I spend finding the right ones for my characters - you'd think I was studying brain surgery.

My heroines are Kate (more than once) Chloe, Addie, Holly, Susie, Polly, Lucy, Daisy, Erin, Jo, Flick and Imo - to name but a few. I obviously like the 'ee’ sound at the end of the name. In fact both my kids have names that end this way.
My heroes - Charlie (arggh - slipping into it with the guys), Ethan, Nathan, Christian (all ending the same), Jay, Jax, Jack, Jake (I obviously like the J sound), Beck, Will, Ed, Alek and so on.

I can see a pattern. The men's names are mostly short and hard sounding, while the women's have two syllables and are softer. Regardless of whether they are human, werewolf, faery, vampire or demon, I always seem to go for something fairly traditional.

I think part of my concern in getting the right name is my problem with some fantasy books. If I can’t remember a made-up name from one page to the next and if I can’t pronounce it in my head as I read, I struggle. For me the name has to resonate from the first time I read it. Even with the writer’s description, I still want to draw my own image of the character.

So - what do you think - do you care what the character is called? Does it matter more to me than it does to you?


www.barbaraelsborg.com
www.barbaraelsborg.blogspot.com

Gobble Gobble

Today the United States celebrates Thanksgiving. It's a day where we are supposed to give thanks for all that we have, be with family and friends, and usually eat.

Love the turkey day LOL. I enjoy seeing the family most of all. We don't get together enough.

I saw the kindergartners the other day at school who had dressed up for the Thanksgiving feast between the Indians and the Pilgrims.

Yesterday I listened to a podcast from two historians on Pocahontas and another on the first Thanksgiving celebrated at Plymouth. Needless to say there are a LOT of myths about both of them. They didn't call themselves Pilgrims for one thing.

There are myths about the traditional foods of Thanksgiving, too. Turkey doesn't really make you sleepy. Overeating does.

But one thing that isn't a myth is being thankful. I've been blessed to be able to do what I do. To have friends and family who support me.

Yes, definitely a day among many to be thankful.

Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen
http://www.mechelearmstrong.com
http://www.melanylogen.com

In Praise of Popcorn by Josh Lanyon

Tuesday saw the release of Old Poison, the second book in the Dangerous Ground series. It's the one about the two DSS agents, partners and best friends, who suddenly realize there may just be more there to explore. And explore they do. At length and in detail. I jokingly call this my "popcorn" series because it's all action-adventure and sexy fun, but maybe I shouldn't because it gives the impression that these books are...tripe. And I don't think they are. Oh, they're not Dostoevsky -- I'm well aware -- but I'm as careful writing them as anything else. (Which, for the record, is painstakingly careful.) I may not always get it right, but it's not for lack of trying.

The problem, I suspect, is that these books are very easy for me to write -- and I enjoy writing them -- and after all I am The Josh, famed wide and far for Doin' eet Write, yeah? So how does the pure pulp pleasure jibe with my standing as Serious Author? Assuming you can wrap your gray cells around the notion of genre fiction being the stuff of serious writing.

It's a rhetorical question mostly because I love doing what I do or I'd do something else. I've done something else -- and made a heck of a lot more money at it -- so this is definitely about love of the work. The craft. And my craft is -- sometimes at least -- making popcorn balls. The best freaking popcorn balls out there, if I have anything to say about it.



Anyway, I was reading Old Poison's review at Jessewave's. I love Wave's reviews, by the way, because she is unabashed in what she likes and doesn't like. She loves books, she loves reading, and she isn't pretentious about it. She's not unkind, she's frank. Which is great if she enjoys what she read, and less delightful if she doesn't. But you're still getting the real Wave. Anyway, in the comment section Wave mentioned something to the effect that she loves my work but sometimes feels guilty (I'm paraphrasing like mad here) because she has yet to give me a bad review. Basically she feels guilty for enjoying herself too much.

Just as I feel guilty for enjoying myself when I write these books.

What is it about us humans that makes us prone to guilt for enjoying the things we love? We refer to so many things -- chocolate, television, genre fiction, bubble baths and taking time for ourselves -- as guilty pleasures. Why are we guilty about our pleasure?

I'm asking, I don't have an answer -- I just think it's an odd thing about our species. We have trouble being happy. Have you noticed that?

It's not like there is so much pleasure in all our lives that we can't stand one minute more -- or that there's so much laughter and love in the world that these things are trite and meaningless. If anything, given the state of the world, I think escapism is more important to people than ever before (barring a couple of World Wars).

Like I said, I don't have the answer. I'm curious as to what you think.

Caught Between - Jet Mykles

I'm caught between manuscripts.

I just turned my latest story and it was the last one I had a contract for. In the last year, I haven't really submitted much new. I've mainly been catching up on a list of commitments that had gotten a little lengthy. Well, now those commitments are fulfilled. On one hand, I feel great. I got stuff accomplished and I'm rather pleased with the results. On the other hand...

Gah!

It's not that I don't have ideas. I do. I've got Scrivener* open with four different new projects, plus at least two others that I can think of saved to my hard drive. Although I've "finished" two of my ongoing series (Dark Elves and Heaven Sent), I've still got lots of balls up in the air for my Leashed series and I've yet to begin my Indigo Knights series. I've even got brand new ideas that have little or nothing to do with the above that are waiting to get written. Ideas isn't my issue.

Follow through. That's the issue.

It's a weird time between manuscripts. I feel adrift. There are so many possibilities. And, because I'm contract-less, there's nothing I have to get right on immediately. Kind of scary. There are so many possibilities. Where do I go next?

Stay tuned. I won't keep idle long.

*For those with Mac's who don't have Scrivener, I HIGHLY suggest you check it out. Best writing tool I've ever had, hands down.

http://www.jetmykles.com