Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Name three guys...

Do you remember those questionnaires from friends we used to get at school that asked you to fill in a bunch of answers and then they would give you the reasons at the end?

IE: Name three guys... the 1st name is the guy you like, the 2nd name is the guy you hate and the 3rd name is the guy you love!

I think we all have a list of guy and girl names in our heads that we like or absolutely love.
Okay, maybe it's just me.

Recently it seems that all the guy names that I want to use are all ready being used heavily in writing. I leafed through a book yesterday and there was the name 'Jack'... my current lead character. 'Colin' I saw on a newly discovered blog page and I used that in my first book.
Since they are great names, I think its okay that I still use them but its gettin' kinda weird.
I'm also fond of Jake but of course until the whole Twilight thing calms down Jake/Jacob is out of the question.
I'm more of a nickname kind of girl even though I think there is a trend to use full names of guys and girls lately.
I like to shorten.
Hell, my own son's name is down to just one letter!

I did just read on someone's blog that they felt that character names weren't important while you are writing, only when you would be submitting.
Couldn't disagree more. A character name helps me to develop the character. Do I use a title with their name, do I use Mr./Mrs., do I use a shortened version or a nickname.
I think this all helps to round out a character; give them substance. This is what works for me.

I have some new followers, thanks to the blog hop I joined yesterday.
So, welcome and I hope I don't bore you too quickly.

To give you a quick rundown on ... well, me ... I am older (ish) than I would like to be, I have one child and one husband. I work part-time and need to expand that.
I write contemporary romance and I may or may not be good at it.
I submitted my first story earlier this year to agents and publishers and all I heard was...*cricket*.
I sent some of my work to a critique partner that I found and they were pretty vocal about how much like a writer I am not. I took it pretty hard and then dusted my self off and have finally begun to write again.
I'm not saying that they were right or wrong but I enjoy writing too much to stop now.
But I don't believe that my work will hold up to today's industry standards and I'm not sure I have the *insert funny phrase here* to start learning how to be an 'author' now.

So, I will keep writing.
I will keep reading.
And I will continue to find and read other like-minded blogs and hopefully that will be enough to sustain me.

I appreciate the visit.

4 comments:

  1. I agree. I need to have my character's name down before I write. It's like when you name your child. That name then just suits him or her. :)

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  2. I know how you feel. Jenny Crusie has an essay on her website about being a writer vs being published. It's very inspiring. The title is: A Writer Without a Publisher Is Like a Fish Without a Bicycle. The gist is: KEEP WRITING!

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  3. i hopped on over from Tessa's blog hop. nice to meet another romance writer.

    i have to name my characters before i write, too. i also have to have pictures to inspire me. (it doesn't hurt when the guys are really nice to look at, like Adrian Paul...)

    i'm glad you didn't let the critic stop you from writing. nothing should stop us from writing.

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