Picking Names, Round Three

After I posted that repeating names don't matter to me in the books I read, I found an instance where it did. I'd finished reading a republished book on the Kindle with a kindly elderly character named something unusual like Bernice or Hortense. The e-book contained an excerpt from the author's newest book, which took place in the same tiny town as the book I'd read, with a kindly elderly character with the same name -- only it wasn't the same character. I dunno . . . two Hortenses in the same tiny town who are the same age, the same personality, but have no connection? I definitely would have preferred a change there.

Picking Names, Part 2

Some writers are very dedicated to their character names. Some of my buds actually can't get a handle on their hero or heroine until they've found the perfect name for them. I used to really focus on them, but in the last twenty books or so, my approach has been much more relaxed. If a character doesn't have a name when he appears and one doesn't come to mind by the end of Chapter 1, I just pick something and write on. Either the name works and grows to fit him, or it doesn't and I change it.

It's a good thing I had and named my kiddo before I got so lax on the names. :)

Picking Names

Years ago I read a magazine article that commented on the dozens of books Nora Roberts had written at the time and the fact that she didn't reuse the primary character names. For whatever reason, it stuck in my head: reusing a name for different heroes/heroines = bad.

Now that I've written somewhere around 80 books, I keep wondering why that comment made such an impact on me. In my family, we have two Rhondas, four Mikes plus a few other duplicates that escape me. In my small writer/best buds group, we've got two Jackies, and I know bunches of Susans, Margarets, Lindas, Lynns, etc.

So why can't I have two Beaus or Sarahs or Lizzies? Guess I can . . . if I can forget that remark.