OK, I'm still on a thing about names - not so much my name - the books gone to print, nothing I can do about that now. Nope on this lovely sunny evening I am pondering my character names.
It's a funny thing when you name a character, it instantly conjurs up an image in the readers head, maybe they know someone with that name, it could be a name they've always liked OR maybe they don't like...I hate it when I read a book with a name I don't like, it takes me longer to relate to the character. Of course, you can't pick a name that EVERY body likes. So I've always just tried to go with gut instinct.
BETRAYAL was really fun to play around with names - because the characters are all glam, beautiful and have perfectly straight white teeth (I'm thinking Dynasty but twenty years later here - no need for the shoulder pads!!) then the names had to reflect that, it also meant they could be a little bit out of the ordinary. Betrayal started out as 20 sides of A4 when I was 15, the only characters who have kept their original names are Marcus (just always seemed right for a bad boy), Matt, Claudia and Amber. Jackson, CJ, Summer & Jez all went through various changes of names before I was happy that the character suited the name I gave them.
Summer and Jez were the hardest...I needed her name to reflect that she was a bit vulnerable, sweet and innocent. I needed a hero name for Jez, something that sounded strong and masculine - hope I've suceeded!
LOVE OVERBOARD was totally different. My characters in this book are a lot more "normal", characters that readers can hopefully relate to. So far I haven't changed any names in Love OVerboard. From the comments I've had on authonmy people seem to like Zoey & Lucie, like the banter between them and many people have commented that they sound like fun girls to go on a cruise with - which is exactly how I want it to come across. As for the guys names, I am slightly contemplating changing Nick's name...although I'm not happy with the other names that have popped into my head. Adam and Ant - my twin rugby players - I'm totally sticking with that, it's just my loopy sense of humour, I love the idea of twins being called Adam & Ant, it makes me giggle!
Thanks for reading my ramblings - because that's all they are!!!
It's a funny thing when you name a character, it instantly conjurs up an image in the readers head, maybe they know someone with that name, it could be a name they've always liked OR maybe they don't like...I hate it when I read a book with a name I don't like, it takes me longer to relate to the character. Of course, you can't pick a name that EVERY body likes. So I've always just tried to go with gut instinct.
BETRAYAL was really fun to play around with names - because the characters are all glam, beautiful and have perfectly straight white teeth (I'm thinking Dynasty but twenty years later here - no need for the shoulder pads!!) then the names had to reflect that, it also meant they could be a little bit out of the ordinary. Betrayal started out as 20 sides of A4 when I was 15, the only characters who have kept their original names are Marcus (just always seemed right for a bad boy), Matt, Claudia and Amber. Jackson, CJ, Summer & Jez all went through various changes of names before I was happy that the character suited the name I gave them.
Summer and Jez were the hardest...I needed her name to reflect that she was a bit vulnerable, sweet and innocent. I needed a hero name for Jez, something that sounded strong and masculine - hope I've suceeded!
LOVE OVERBOARD was totally different. My characters in this book are a lot more "normal", characters that readers can hopefully relate to. So far I haven't changed any names in Love OVerboard. From the comments I've had on authonmy people seem to like Zoey & Lucie, like the banter between them and many people have commented that they sound like fun girls to go on a cruise with - which is exactly how I want it to come across. As for the guys names, I am slightly contemplating changing Nick's name...although I'm not happy with the other names that have popped into my head. Adam and Ant - my twin rugby players - I'm totally sticking with that, it's just my loopy sense of humour, I love the idea of twins being called Adam & Ant, it makes me giggle!
Thanks for reading my ramblings - because that's all they are!!!