Q: How do you come up with titles and character
names? Do they change during the writing process?
- from Susan
A: Titles are tough
for me. When forced to submit one I think is lame and that surely my publisher
can improve, I’m rattled when they say, “Oh, I like that.” I admire authors who
come up with good ones, time and time again. But nobody does it for me, alas,
so I struggle. If anyone out there wants to chime in when the next book is
close to submission, I will be absurdly grateful.
Names are another
thing. They matter so much to me as a writer, to the book’s credibility, to the
reader’s satisfaction as being believable. Because my lazy brain tends to
sample and re-sample typical Anglo-Saxon options, I have taken to looking at
online resources: names from a specific year – unpopular as well as popular – ,
surnames from other countries that may help readers see my characters as coming
from a particular culture, and the occasional need for a name that starts with
a letter not already used by one of my characters.
Emma
Mrs. Poliver
Jane
Precious
Gwendolyn
Bianca
Right now, I’m
struggling because the protagonist’s name I settled on after two other choices
starts with the same letter as her surname, which I love and don’t want to
alter, and her fiancé’s, which I will change. I wasn’t crazy about it anyway.
He is Anglo-Saxon and from a
prominent New York family, and of another time, so there’s more research ahead
of me. From Charles to…? (No, not Percival or Peregrine. I’m not trying for
humor.)
I recently read a book
I liked quite a lot, except that the protagonist’s name grated on me every time
the author used it. To me, it seemed absolutely wrong for who she was, her age
and her background, and my bias kept me at a distance from the story as a
result. That’s an entirely subjective reaction. I don’t for a minute blame the
author, whose own history, nostalgic recollections, or family names might have
given her a completely different reaction to the name when she tried it out. No
names will please everyone all the time. Late at night, scrolling down lists on
Google, I remind myself of that. And I thank the Word programmers for the
search-and-replace function, which makes the change of name after a ‘eureka’
moment so easy.
So, names matter.
Title matter. And if I knew exactly how any why they matter to readers and
editors, I’d share it with you. But I bet you know perfectly well when an
author hits the mark: The Reek of Red
Herrings, anyone?
