Neck deep in copy edits, the lovely Elizabeth Scott made the time to contribute a guest post for Persnickety Snark's birthday. I am extremely grateful and excited, especially as her book, Love You Hate You Miss You made my top ten books of 2009.
Naming Characters, or "What Do You Mean I Can't Call You That?"
One of the great things about writing is...well, you get to make up stories. I mean, it's fantastic! You have these people and they do stuff and you get to see it all happen. I love it, and l love seeing an entire world unfold in front of me.
But then there's the whole naming thing. Sometimes I know exactly what a character's name is. Lauren, from Bloom, for instance, was always Lauren. Other times, though--well, at other times, I think I know a character's name, and it turns out that I don't.
When I was writing Something, Maybe, Hannah's best friend was supposed to be named Jessica. But she did *not* want to be Jessica, because every time I went to type her name, it came out Teagan. And as I kept writing, I realized Teagan knew way more about herself than I did, and so I--well, I left her alone and let her tell her story.
This happens to me a lot, actually. I start writing about someone and before I know it, I'm finding out all these things I didn't know at all, which is yet another thing that makes writing so amazing.
A big thanks to the always generous Elizabeth Scott for taking the time to write this when she's so busy! Her newest title, The Unwritten Rule, is coming out later this year! Having read it, I know that you will all lap it up.
You can check out Elizabeth's website here. I would definitely consider subscribing/bookmarking her blog as she regularly links the most thought provoking articles and blog posts on YA from around the world. Well worth your time.
Thank you very much Elizabeth for sharing here. I enjoyed learning about your writing process. Characters' names are so important & I love how they "name themselves".
I enjoyed reading this. I always love hearing about authors and their writing processes. Names are super interesting and I agree with Elizabeth, about Teagan. Having read the book, I think it's the perfect name for her.