How Some Authors Come Up With Names

I stumbled upon THIS BLOG POST on the Picture Book Den. Author Paeony Lewis writes about coming up with names for the characters in your stories, and I love this because I am often asked how I name my characters. Here's a peek at my process:

Read the above post, and discover the secrets authors use for naming their characters!

How do YOU come up with names?

What's In A Name?

I've been following a conversation on a message board where writers, published and unpublished, post book-related topics. There's a thread on there about overused names in books. This is the unofficial list:

LUCAS

WILL

JAKE

KATE

CASSIE

BELLA

ISABELLE

JACK

GRACE

ALEX

AVA

SAM

SOPHIE

NOA/NOAH

AIDEN

JAYDEN

JASPER

FINN

Bet you can figure out where the author got his/her inspiration for a couple of those names.

You might want to give some thought to your characters' names, too, so you don't end up with the same name everyone else chooses.

But maybe you do want to follow a trend. After all, it is interesting to note how many Jennys were born in the seventies, how many Jessicas and Michaels were given that name in the eighties, how many Megans made an appearance in the nineties, etc.

HERE's a cool site where you can plug in a year and see the most popular baby names used at the time. Hey, don't laugh! It's a great resource. Another resource is a baby name book. Page through and see if a character's name jumps out at you.

The Case of the Missing Space

Boy, oh, boy, is the English language confusing or WHAT? If you miss one little space, the meaning changes.

Ahold
May I get ahold of you later?
A hold
He has a hold of the hammer.

Already
I swear I did that already.
All ready
Are you all ready for the party?

Altogether
Altogether, we spent fifty dollars.
All together
We are all together.

Anymore
He will not go to the store anymore.
Any more
If I have any more of that ice cream, I will get sick.

Anyone
Anyone is permitted to go to that camp.
Any one
Any one of you could have stolen that jewelry.

Anyplace
I can't go anyplace without my little brother.
Any place 
She will travel to any place her frequent flyer miles take her.

Anything
The old man did not remember anything about his childhood.
Any thing
Please take any thing you see that you like.

Awhile
She thought she'd stay awhile.
A while
She thought she'd stay for a while.

Everyday
These are my everyday shoes.
Every day
He'd eat a lollipop every day.

Overtime
She had to work overtime.
Over time
Over time, the two became friends.

Pounding Out the Compound Words

I couldn't resist posting one more quiz. This one is about creating compound words, and the subject is Living Things. It's easier than last week's quiz, so W H E W! 

FYI:  As writers, we must constantly be on the lookout for interesting words--words that sometimes lead to interesting characters and topics. The next time you begin a story about a cat, maybe you'll change that main character to a bobcat because of something you found in this quiz. Think outside the litter box.

TRY THE QUIZ HERE.

Latergator.
Ok, so that's not a real compound word. Writers can make up stuff. ; )