Naming Names - Part 2

 

I'm not sure where the time went that my last post was in August of last year, but a partial excuse is that I have been working on my latest novel, The Last Cottage, and I'm so excited that project is finally completed. It will be going live some time this month. 

This project took a long time to write, as was the case with my other novels. If I have learned anything from this writing journey, it is that it definitely takes me a quite a while to write a book through to the end. But I'm okay with that.  I have a feeling if I tried to rush it, it would not be my best work, and I always want to do my best. 

Back in June of 2020, I wrote a post about how to name your characters. Now of course my way is not the only way or may even be wrong for some, but it is a process that has worked well for me, so I wanted to share. This time around, I found I had made a major error I would have never noticed had I not re-read my project, which I do anyway. In this story, I have a handful of characters who are only mentioned in one or two chapters because they are minor. The two major characters are traveling, and I mention some people they meet along the way, but only briefly.

As I was going through the story after it was completed, I found that I had used the name Julie twice and Julianne. I think this happened because there had been long periods of time between some of my chapters, so I simply forgot I had already used the name. Obviously there are many people with the same name, but it would be too confusing in a story, even if both are minor characters.   

I still refer to my long list of character names and add to it all the time, but now I also will make an extra note for each chapter when I name a character, most especially if it is a minor character. Then if another character should happen to pop up, I can refer back to my notes to make sure I'm not using the same or even similar name that could cause confusion.  I have always jotted down the content of each chapter as I go along. That is a big help to me if there is something in the story which might be a situation I had already addressed that would not need repeating. Now I have added a separate section that is just dealing with all my character names, even the major ones, and I'm also including in which chapter these characters can be found. 

My hope is to create a series of stories dealing with five generations of women, all born on May 10th, going back to the mid 1850s and up to 2019. I'm starting with the present and working my way back.  My present May 10th character will also be a major part of the second book I'm currently working on that takes place at her job in 1982.  Then the third book will be about her mother and so on back to the great great grandmother. Again, this is the plan, but I have no idea if I'll actually get it all done. But I'm getting a lot of enjoyment out of the process, but if it doesn’t happen, I'll be okay with that too. It’s all about the journey and having fun with it. I could very well wind up writing something completely different down the road. My brother keeps teasing me I should write a novel about my “awesome bro,” so he might regret he ever brought it up! 

For a good long while, I thought this current novel would not get finished. I wasn’t sure where I wanted the story to go, so I put it aside and at times thought I should give it up. I was determined not to feel like a failure if I made the decision to abandon this project. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with letting go of a story. Like I said, this could very well be the only book in this series, in which case I guess it won't be a series. For now, I'm having fun just figuring it all out, but instead my awesome brother just might get his story for the world to read. That’s one of the best parts of being a writer. You can take your journey in whatever direction you choose. It’s all in your head and hands! 

Thanks for reading. Keep reading, keep writing, and always remember to enjoy your day.