Barbara Ankrum: Naming Characters

As an author, I get a lot of questions about process. How do I start? What’s the first thing I come up with? Plot? Conflict? Characters?

Yes.

That’s my answer. All of the above. Because all of those things are so interconnected, I usually have all three in my head as I’m thinking up a new book. Characters and character arcs factor in heavily, because I have to know where these two people are going and what they’re going to learn along the way. What’s in the way of that journey is the conflict.

But before I can start the actual writing, I need the H & H’s names. How characters look is often secondary. Names are essential to me to get a handle on character.  Sometimes, I just know them immediately. Other times, I go through lists. After I pick a name, I will scroll through photos and Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB—a movie geek site) for faces until I find the right look (that fits the name.) Mind you, this might seem like surface stuff, but it’s not. It’s all connected to character and conflict and back story and how I feel about the character.

This rule, however, can backfire on me. In a recent book I was forced to change the names of both characters three times, which—not coincidentally—also entailed rewriting the entire beginning as many times, because the name can essentially change how I think about a character and a character’s voice. And the characters (and story) were just not working for me. Oy!

Then there was the time, a couple of books ago, (I won’t divulge which one…) when I was about three-quarters of the way through, merrily typing away, and I looked at my hero’s name (as one does) and suddenly felt my heart sink. I’d been writing his name for a few months and never once did I recall that I’d actually used his name once before for another hero. (Wha—??) It was an old book, written a long time ago, granted, but still.  Two heroes with the same name would be…wrong.
For a whole day, I froze, horrified at the prospect that this guy I’d been writing all along would need a new name and the thought of changing it mid-stream is just…just…I can’t even. It was like giving my heroine a whole new guy! Not only that, I felt it might essentially change the tone of the story I was telling if I changed it then. Go on, you can think I’m crazy. I don’t mind.

I knew it would be easier for my readers to accept a different name for my hero (from the start) than it would for me to change it, mid-stream, so I decided to finish the book using the original name rather than try to change it as I was just getting to the black moment. That would allow me to continue with him emotionally without disruption. So when I finished the book, I did a soul search for a name I could fall for and after a long day of rejecting possibilities, I found one. I did a global search and replaced his name.

Moral of the story: everyone loved his name. No one thought he was weird or wrong. I even loved his name in the end and felt it added something unique to him. But I was glad I didn’t mess with him in the telling of the story. Who knows what might have happened?

But that just goes to show how delicate the process of creation is. Or the craziness of the creators! (Eh-hem…speaking only for myself, of course.)

I can still remember the names some of my favorite heroes and heroines from books I read years ago. My keepers. What are some of your all time faves?


Barbara Ankrum’s brand new historical romance, THE RUINATION OF ESSIE SPARKS—Book #2 of her Wild Western Rogues Series—hits the stands April 2, 2016!

Style for Characters

By Joanne Rock

My small town series

You know the saying that a reader lives a thousand lives? Well, a writer writes a thousand lives, it seems. And there are a lot of fun perks to that. Not the least of which is dressing and housing my characters.

As a long time subscriber to magazines like InStyle and Southern Living, I’ve spent a lot of hours daydreaming over beautiful clothes, homes and landscaping. But no one person could possibly emulate all those styles of fashion or interior decorating. Much as I like Mexican Rustic furnishings, I don’t necessarily have a place to put pieces like that in my home. Lucky for me, every character is a blank slate for my stylist’s eye. Every home an opportunity to either Design on a Dime or pretend I’m decorating a Million Dollar Listing.

Dress your character!

One of my first inspirations for my characters’ wardrobes came from this adorable mini book called Fashion Astrology . I might not have any idea about the star sign of my heroine, but in thumbing through this book, I could choose a whole wardrobe aesthetic for her. Did her closet look like that of an uptown sophisticate? Or was she more of an eclectic, vintage store shopper? I dressed plenty of characters using this as a springboard and my most recent issue of InStyle for a specific outfit or two. I might not be able to afford some of those designers, but who’s to say my heroines were on the same budget? Or  maybe they were just better shoppers than me. Either way, I let them wear what they liked.

Bungalow in my Superromance

Houses were equally fun to dream up. From Central Park West apartments to California coast bungalows, it’s always fun to think about where a character might choose to live. And better still, how they might decorate. Some characters are Spartan, never acquiring too much. Others are collectors, with snippets of their past all around them. I like seeing what the surroundings tell me about their personality. Recently, I underscored my heroine Heather Finley’s backstory (from Dances Under the Harvest Moon) by having her live in a converted bungalow on her parents’ expansive farm property. Sure, she had some space between her and her mother. But she’d never left her hometown and her home reflected that. I did make it charming though, with a small porch for a swing and an airy loft bedroom.

Marchesa for Desire heroine

Recently I started writing for Harlequin’s Desire line, and this series allows me to really push the boundaries on wardrobes and decorating. There is no budget in the Desire world of wealth and privilege! Now, I can shop on Net a Porter and find gorgeous designer gowns to send my heroines to elegant charity fundraisers. I find it funny that after I “shop” for a while, my Facebook feed fills up with ads for other clothes I can’t afford, continually asking if I want that Marchesa gown or Louboutin shoes. Well… maybe not today. I already gave them to a lucky secretary swept off her feet by her wealthy boss.

***Are you addicted to HGTV or fashion magazines? Do you have a favorite store to browse through—online or in real life—looking at things you aren’t prepared to buy but just love to look at? Share with me in the comments and I’ll give one random poster a copy of my Harlequin Blaze, MY SECRET FANTASIES.