What is a Name to a Character?

And how important is the name we chose for our characters?

After all, we all have a name.  It may be short (Brad Pitt) or long (Ernest Hemingway), traditional (James Patterson) or "trendy" (Taylor Lautner).  Some names rhyme (Jack Black) while others appear to be more random (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart). Some of us like our names while others may be less pleased.

Names often awaken associations - when we hear a name, most of us will, for at least a split second, think of a family member, friend, coworker, or just an obnoxious acquaintance we know by that name and may transpose that person's traits onto the fictional character.

Certain names may also be unfairly imbued with personality traits - a Michael or Joseph, at least initially, is more likely to be viewed as conservative or boring whereas a Ty or a Zak may be thought of as hip and young.

And then there are the names that carry unavoidable stereotypes - think Judas or Adolph.

The name we give our character also depends on the period our story is set in (how many Berthas or Helgas have you met lately?) and the country it takes place in (actually, if you were just in Germany, you may have run into quite a few Helgas).

With all that, naming my characters has been a bit of a challenge.  I am happy with my main character's name and those I chose for his immediate family members (I stuck with the names I gave them before I started writing), but I am still struggling with the names I gave to the secondary characters.

How do you go about naming your characters?  Do you know what name you will give them before you even start? Or do you simply google the yellow pages?

Is Writing Sort of Like Baking A Cake?

Inspiration is essential to creating a well-written, captivating story. It can come from anywhere - an old, black & white photograph, a stranger on the street, a song, or an inexplicable feeling - and it often strikes when we least expect it (at least for me).

But is our capacity to be inspired really arbitrary or can we create an environment that invites and fosters creativity and fuels our imagination?

I used to believe that ideas would come randomly and I would simply have to accept their capriciousness. But as I often struggled with the ability to utilize that magical time and place when everything came together, I had to experiment and I finally realized that I could attract inspiration by putting together a bowl of carefully selected and measured ingredients - absolute silence, complete solitude, at least one hour of free time, and my MacBook Pro.  I mix, add the right amount of inspiration, and voilà!

How do you make it work?

My Favorite Part of Writing - and The Most Frustrating

I have been hard at work revising and editing what I hope is the last iteration of my work in progress. I admit, after a few hours each night, exhausted and "overcaffeinated," I almost feel like I have had enough and I am just a hair from looking at writing (or, rather, revising) as a chore.

But when I read what I revised and see how much better it is in terms of structure and depth, the frustrations sort of melt away. Thus, my least favorite and most frustrating part of writing is revisions (or, most specifically, the final revision).

Starting a new work used to be my least favorite - that first sentence became an obsession and had to be perfect.  Once it was "done," as if the dam had broken and it all came flowing.

And now, that first sentence of a new work is one of my favorite parts.  I love to agonize over it, looking for the right balance of words, creating the right first impression.  It's fun, exciting, challenging.  Just writing a whole new work is like opening up a new world.  Love it.

How about you?  What is your favorite part (or least favorite part) of writing?

It's Quite (P)interesting!

Do you ever feel like there are just too many social media content and applications to utilize and keep up with?  Social networking sites like Facebook, professional networking sites like LinkedIn, and microblogs like Twitter, are joined by internet forums, podcasts, videocasts and so on.  And then we have our "regular" blogs.

I try to make it easy - I blog, and that is it.

Or, rather, that was it until I met Pinterest.

Reluctant at first to even look at another outlet, I finally gave it a try and now I am hooked!  Of course, pinning is a lot less challenging and faster than crafting a meaningful blog entry or participating in a (sometimes heated) forum discussion, but still it is another chunk of time away from the other activities and sleep.

Pinterest is unique in that it allows you to focus on various interests at the same time - pinning book covers to photos to house photos and much more.  I am having excessive amounts of fun pinning book covers...

Have you checked it out yet?  What do you think?

The Listmaker's Dilemma

I make lists for everything - from the ordinary (list of books I want to read) to the peculiar (list of every Whole Foods I have ever visited) to the unpleasant (list of things-I-must-do-now-so-I-don't-have-to-think-about-them-one-minute-longer).

Yes, I even keep a list of all the lists I have made, just in case.

Not all my lists are on paper or securely lodged in my iPhone - some lists I keep only inside my head, although I see them in real list "format," lines and numbers and all.

That is the organized me, the analythical thinker, the lawyer, the mom.  The person inside the box.

Thus, when I first began to write fiction I thought I would need to cast aside my lists and my tendencies to organize, seeing these as traits of the "boxed-in" me, as cages that would only hold back my imagination.

I wrote my first draft and re-draft without a list of plot locations, a list of family members and names, a chronological order, and so on, and just let it flow.

But my approach did not work.

Holes in the plot, characters devoid of depth, and time zones out of order screamed at me as I worked my way through the pages.  During that process I realized that while some writers may not require lists or charts or concrete ideas, I do.  It is part of who I am and it is how I function well.  Thus, the fourth draft is like a whole new novel.

How about you?  Do you use lists when writing?  Do you become a different person when you are in "creative mode?"

The Bookstore is Still Alive and Well (Although Quite Far)

I had the day off yesterday and managed to devote it to my family and my WiP - in that order.  No chores, no housework, no office calls - and it was fabulous!  As a matter of fact, could we have every Monday off?  Anyone?

I had promised my daughter I would buy her a few books (the Bear series by Becker/Denton is one of her favorites) so I took her to the nearest bookstore.  After the closure of both of our local Barnes and Noble and Borders, that trip involved a 25 block walk up on Broadway - but definitely worth it.

Many others had the same idea for their day off; the aisles were busy with crawling babies, babbling toddlers, and eager little readers.  Of course I could not leave without satisfying my need for a new good read and after my daughter made her selection I started browsing.  I ended up with three books myself - here is the one I started reading last night:

And I did have a hard time putting it down.

Have you read it?

Elitism: Quality Control or Suppression?

The insightful and divergent comments I received on my last post, along with some rather strong opinions from friends (all of whom are avid consumers of fiction), gave me a bit of a pause and I thought I'd continue to share my opinions (or, rather, quest for answers) about various issues in publishing and the world of writing in general.

More specifically, some comments I received emphasized that self-publishing is a great tool as it will finally allow people to decide what they want to read, as opposed to the elitist publishers and agents deciding what we should read (or what is worthy of being read).  Others commented that traditional publishing will retain its use as it provides a good filter for weeding out those works that really have no business being in print.

As with most things in life, I suppose both arguments have merit.

Agents and publishers do, to some extent, ensure that the work published is of good quality.  But what exactly is good quality?  Proper grammar?  Good sentence structure?  Excellent flow between chapters?  Fully-developed characters?  Aren't at least some of these factors in the eye of the beholder?  Agents and publishers often "see" that certain something in novels that baffles the minds of many of us readers, and push their favorites no matter what - here comes that potential for elitism.  Do they not have the "obligation" to put books on the market that people want to read or do they really know what is best for us to read?

I am sure that there is a significant overlap between what agents/publishers see as publishable and what people buy, read, and actually enjoy.  Simple example - works of Laurie Halse Anderson.  Or Kathryn Stockett.  Perhaps there is no elitism after all - some may argue the Twilight Saga provides  a unique twist or two that results in an enjoyable story, but one that is not well written.  Still, the series was published to exceptional success.  In that case, and in many others I am sure, the agents and publishers saw what they thought the public would like and went ahead despite certain holes in grammar or character development or whatnot.  Since I am "ripping" on Twilight, I fess up and admit that I did like the books...and the movies were quite entertaining as well (for me, I think it was the hair and the house, really).

What do you think?  Has your work been rejected because of what you see as elitism in the industry?  Or, in your view, is there no such thing?