The Character Renaming Quandry
You know, I had several bog ideas this past two months. I did. I really did. To quote Shakespeare, "Tis gone, tis gone..." The best laid plans, right? I've been writing and working and working out this past couple of month. My daughter started guitar lessons and we still have karate and art club and now glee choir on top of my own committees and commitments, so life has been a little packed and the blog has suffered as a result. But that's all to the good. As I tell my students, you can't write the great American novel without having lived the great American life. I don't have a great American life. I'm no Hemingway or Twain, but I've got a good little life.
We also got a puppy. His name is Magnus, after Magnus Chase of Rich Riordan fame. The daughter and I read book one together last summer on our Walt Disney World trip and she loved the name. My husband looked at me a little strangely, but went with it. Now, the name fits. Interesting the way that works, doesn't it?
I've had characters whose names I've had to change for one reason or another. In Ascent of the Fallen, I was asked to changed Serafina's cousin's name. It was originally Sam, but was changed to Dan because there were too many characters with "S" names. The editor didn't want people to get confused. I get it, but even for a minor little character it was pretty difficult to do. When I was in 6th grade, I came up with my first characters. I lived with those characters, loved them and wrote hundreds upon hundreds of pages about them. It became my first trilogy. One that will most likely never see the light of day because, well, I wrote it starting in 6th grade. I pulled it out a while ago...pulled out the idea, that is. Can't pull out the actual files anymore unless someone has a big 5 inch floppy disk drive anywhere around, provided I can find all my hand labeled floppies in my dad's basement.
I digress. One of the things I looked at when I looked back over the idea was changing the character's names. I mean, I spelled Michael--Mikel, and thought I was cool. They can't be changed though, can they? Even as childish as some of the names were, and some of them were (a bad guy named Darklor, what was I thinking?!?) I can't change them. Their names have become over the years and the part of the fabric of who they are. So, the idea will still sit in the back of my head. I pull it out and tinker with it when I'm between angel books, but I don't think I'll ever get that far with it. It's nice to visit with those characters for a while, though. They were quite important pieces of my young imagination.
We also got a puppy. His name is Magnus, after Magnus Chase of Rich Riordan fame. The daughter and I read book one together last summer on our Walt Disney World trip and she loved the name. My husband looked at me a little strangely, but went with it. Now, the name fits. Interesting the way that works, doesn't it?
I've had characters whose names I've had to change for one reason or another. In Ascent of the Fallen, I was asked to changed Serafina's cousin's name. It was originally Sam, but was changed to Dan because there were too many characters with "S" names. The editor didn't want people to get confused. I get it, but even for a minor little character it was pretty difficult to do. When I was in 6th grade, I came up with my first characters. I lived with those characters, loved them and wrote hundreds upon hundreds of pages about them. It became my first trilogy. One that will most likely never see the light of day because, well, I wrote it starting in 6th grade. I pulled it out a while ago...pulled out the idea, that is. Can't pull out the actual files anymore unless someone has a big 5 inch floppy disk drive anywhere around, provided I can find all my hand labeled floppies in my dad's basement.
I digress. One of the things I looked at when I looked back over the idea was changing the character's names. I mean, I spelled Michael--Mikel, and thought I was cool. They can't be changed though, can they? Even as childish as some of the names were, and some of them were (a bad guy named Darklor, what was I thinking?!?) I can't change them. Their names have become over the years and the part of the fabric of who they are. So, the idea will still sit in the back of my head. I pull it out and tinker with it when I'm between angel books, but I don't think I'll ever get that far with it. It's nice to visit with those characters for a while, though. They were quite important pieces of my young imagination.
I too have an issue with changing character names. Some had to be changed due to not wanting to be in the actual story (serious newbie error), but others have stayed the course, like a character I have named Nikia. In just about all my published & unpublished stories, that name has been the one consistency throughout my writing. Fell in love with the name (don't remember how/when I came across it) and been using it ever since.
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