From the Backlist - What's In a Name?

 

Dragon Name Generator from TA Barron

Hello Everyone!

For us dragons and humans, it's time again to explore the #backlist at the Supernatural Underground! 

FIY my dragon name, according to the above, is Crimson Smoke the Young. LOL 

Today we are sharing a post made in March 2011 by the bestselling romance author Pamela Palmer. Here she talks about the ups and downs and ins and outs of choosing a character's name.

I promise, it's actually a lot harder than it sounds!

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What's In a Name?

by Pamela Palmer

...I always thought that picking the names of my characters would be easy. Just thumb through a baby name book, find a few names I liked, and that would be it, right? Maybe it works like that for some authors. Not for me. I have to like the name, of course, but it's so much more complicated than that. The name has to, in some way, capture the essence of the character for me. It becomes an important vehicle for understanding that character.

In comparison, naming kids is easy. And I can say that because I've named two of them and it wasn't easy at all. My husband's and my tastes in names were poles apart. The thing with naming babies is, you don't know them. You're trying to give them a name they'll be happy with for a lifetime, but unlike naming characters, you're not trying to fit their name with their personality, because you don't know them yet.

Before I choose a name for a character, I have to understand her (or him). I knew that Kara (the heroine of Desire Untamed) was a sweet, spunky, girl-next-door type long before I knew her name. I knew Delaney (the heroine of Obsession Untamed) was a tough human FBI agent and Skye (Passion Untamed) was a sweet Mage witch with a pure heart. Their names came later, and not easily. I tried several names each before I found the one that clicked for me. In Kara's case, I went through at least six before finding the one that fit.

So how do I decide which name fits? Like so many things having to do with the writing process, I look inside myself for the answer. When I hit on the element, in this case the name, that feels right, I know it. I feel it in my gut. But I don't always feel it instantly. With names, in particular, I have to live with them a little while before I know, although this 'living with them' usually takes place during the plotting process, before I ever start writing the book. Rarely will I change a name after the book is underway any more, though that used to happen all the time.


As I plot and work out the key aspects of my story, I try out different names until I find the ones that feel right...

 

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To read the full article and learn more about this wonderful author and her bestselling books, go to the original post and follow Pamela on FB and Twitter.

Let us know in the comments some of your favorite character names.