I have this thing - and my friends know I do it! - where I often just slip in all, or part, of their name in one of my stories.
My friend read #BoomsGraffitiBoy and then gave it to her daughter to read, who recognised her name at the end of the book, when Mr Britton took the register!
But I can't seem to help it. It's just something I do without thinking.
I think it's a subconscious thing. I mean, it must be. Because you don't get any modern names in any of the classics. Every writer chooses names that are current at the time because that's what they're familiar with.
This month, I've been writing a story for a competition with a major publishing company (deadline Monday!) where one of the main prizes is to have an agent work with you to develop your book. But the best bit of all is that if they work with you, they're more likely to take you on at the end of the process to represent you. Which is what I need right now!
The story revolves around the unexpected friendship between a young guy in his 30s, living in London, and an 81-year-old lady he meets through work. This guy is one of life's good guys - in fact my tagline is - Sometimes people like (BLANK) really do exist in life!
So this guy is a good person, a loyal friend, is ultra caring and considerate of everyone (even strangers) so it was important to me I picked a name that seemed to cover all of that.
I told my story idea to some of the creative people at work, and we started bandying names about - and weirdly - every name that came back seemed to begin with the letter L (I have no idea why, but it did!) Then the name Liam came up, and I really liked it.
Liam feels like the kind of person who would be a good person. Dependable, reliable, caring.
So it stuck.
But the whole experience emphasised the fact that names really do matter to a story.
Think about how long people take to choose a name for their baby. A name has to feel right. It takes time. It has to mean something.
So in that sense, I believe a character's name really is important to a story.
Time will tell if I picked the right name.
Time will also tell if I wrote my story well enough to grab the attention of the judges.
But even if I don't get through this time, it's another body of work I can start sending out. And I'm happy with Liam.
Just in case you're wondering, I called the old lady, Lily.
Because Lily sounds like the name of an old lady who is about to revisit her past all over again, with Liam's help.
Keep your fingers crossed for me (as of Monday) - but if you have any thoughts on the name #Liam - or #Lily - do let me know. Including if it's your name, or you know someone with that name. I'm curious to see if you think I got it right or not...
#Liam #Lily #BoomsGraffitiBoy #names #whatsinaname #choosinganame #writing #amwriting #writingcommunity #writingcommunityofinstagram #writersofig #character #charactersname #agent #publishingcompany #curtisbrown
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