Shakespeare said, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but can you see a modern-day heroine named Gertrude? Today, I’ll spill a secret about the way I name my characters.
Sometimes, the story drives the name. Jason from Hard Truths, for example, is an ancient Greek hero: the leader of the Argonauts, who went off to seek the Golden Fleece, braving all sorts of disasters. I’ll do a post on Jason later, but for now, know that he’s the O.G. alpha male, warts and all. My Jason is a lot more nuanced, though. Nick, too, is so named because of how it fits into the story, Submerged Hopes.
For the most part, I tend to avoid names that are highly symbolic, since I don’t want to be heavy-handed. I know some authors name unpleasant characters after people who leave bad reviews or real-life enemies, but luckily, I have none of the latter, and to give space to a mean-spirited reviewer is allowing them too much power, in my book.
Most of my names are homage names—I often name my characters, whether good or bad guys—after my alpha readers/critiquers, who’ve been so wonderful in helping me fine-tune my stories. It can be the main characters, or something smaller, like the name of a diner or a craft beer, but it’s an insider “thank you” to my marvelous team.
For the first time, I’m working on a formal Advance Review Team! An ARC team gets early copies, in hopes of getting reviews put up on Amazon and Goodreads. It’s a little bit scary, actually, since a bad review can tank a book I worked lovingly on for six months or more, but an author needs courage. My ideal ARC reader “gets” my work and is willing and able to read through quickly and leave reviews. If that’s you, you can sign up on the website!
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