Hey everyone! It’s Clara Kensie, back with a new Question of the Week! Pretty much the only thing writers love as much as writing is talking about writing. So each week here at Adventures in YA Publishing, I post a question for you to answer. The questions cover all topics important to writers: craft, career, writers’ life, reading and books. Together we’ll become better writers by sharing tips and discussing our habits and practices.
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| photo credit: p!o via photopin cc |
My answer: I like to name my characters right away, almost first thing, in the very beginning stages of plotting. Sometimes it stalls my plotting process—I simply can’t move forward until I’ve found the perfect names for my hero and heroine. I start off with a general idea of who they are, but they’re not complete, they’re not “real,” until I find their names. As I add secondary characters, I like to pick their names early in the character-sketch process, although quite often I’ll change their names as I move forward.
If I’m having trouble thinking of a name, I’ll use baby naming websites as a resource for first names. I like Baby Names World because you can search by meanings of names, and it also lists similar names. I also use the official Social Security website , especially for the parents and grandparents of my teenage protagonists, because you can find popular names by year of birth. I use Mongabay to find last names (it lists first names too).
I had no trouble thinking of the names of my hero and heroine in RUN TO YOU. I named Tristan and Tessa almost immediately. The names just came to me, they felt “right,” and they are absolutely perfect for their characters. All along I had this crazy phobia that my editor would tell me to change their names for some reason. But I just turned in my line edits on Friday and she’s never told me to change them, so they will forever be Tristan and Tessa. Hooray!
WHAT ABOUT YOU: At what point in your writing process do you name your characters? How and where do you find their names?








