Choosing the right one

I was talking to someone earlier today, and we got off on the subject of names. She likes old fashioned names, and some of the ones she listed as part of her favorite names list were pretty cute, even though I'd never heard of one of them before. I might have seen the name in a book before, just never knew how to pronounce it. But it sounded pretty when she pronounced it.

She made me think of my method of choosing names. As I've said before, I usually choose names that go with the character's personality, or I pick the name and the personality is shaped around the name. And, I usually try to go with names that are from the time period I'm writing about. It's usually a fun task, and I'll come up with some interesting combinations for first and middle names. However, I've often wondered whether or not the name suits the character. When instances like that arise, what do you do? And does it come up often? Or every once and a while?

Little Update

The leaves are changing colors and the days are becoming cooler. The cold weather will soon be here. It's the type of weather that gives us excuses to relax and read a good book. In the following weeks, I'll be interviewing authors who've written great books that will be available for purchase in time for the colder weather. So stay tuned! It'll be book stops you won't want to miss!

Personality Change?

So, the story is almost done, and one of the characters suddenly wants a personality change. He's supposed to be gruff and hard to get along with.  His personality has already been shaped and at the last minute, he decided he didn't want to be so gruff anymore! Ugh! That means I'll have to go back through every chapter and rework his personality! What do you do when one of your characters suddenly decide they want a different personality? Do you stick with what you originally had in mind? Or do you test the new personality to see if it's better than the old one?

Favorite Part

I had my 2013 kick off book signing the other day, and even though it felt like October with how cold it was, the turn out was great! I think one of my favorite parts was, not only meeting new people, but seeing people from last year who'd purchased the first book and were anticipating the sequel. There was one person in particular who liked to hang around my booth and talk with me for a while. I had a pre-order book there and people could pre-order the sequel without having to pay in advance. Now this girl was a repeat customer, she'd purchased the first book and was eagerly awaiting the sequel. And even though she didn't have to pay at the time of the order, she went ahead and paid as she placed her order for an autographed copy of Anything But A Diamond. She was smiling and her eyes were shining with anticipation at the thought of being able to read the book over Christmas break. It's moments like those, when you have readers who look forward to reading your work, that make rolling out of bed early in the morning to write, or having to sit outside in the cold for a book signing, all worth it. What are some of your favorite aspects about book signings?

It's Almost Here!

And I don't mean Fall. Yes, Fall is almost here, but so is Beth Consugar's new picture book, Swanee Day. I can hardly wait for it to hit the shelves! Click on the link to check out the cover for her book!  
https://www.facebook.com/BethConsugarAuthor

Also, keep checking back for an upcoming interview with Beth!

Favorite Writing Time

The sun's poking its head over the tops of the pine trees, robins are scurrying across the yard, and drew drops glisten on leaves in the morning light. Life is rubbing the sleep from her eyes, preparing to greet another day.

It's moments like this that make mornings my favorite time to write. It's peaceful and there's so much inspiration around me. What are your favorite writing times and why?

Authors and Actors

     A few weeks ago, I saw a local troupe perform Beauty and the Beast. The cast was great and so was the acting. Sitting close to the front enabled me to get a great view of the performance, but it also was a little bit of a disadvantage. Because I knew practically every line in every song, I found myself ‘singing along’ where my lips were moving noiselessly. I thought I was being real discreet about it, until one of the actors told me after the performance that he saw me singing along. (Total disadvantage to sitting so close to the front!) However, I wonder if he noticed the little girl sitting next to me. She got me thinking about a similarity between actors and authors.  

      Actors and authors both want their audience to be engaged in the story, as well as enjoy it. This little girl was both engaged and enjoying the story. When the prince was transformed into the beast, she gasped and whispered, “What happened to him, Mommy?” Typical question children ask when something happens that they don’t understand. During Be Our Guest, movement out of the corner of my eye made me glance toward the little girl. She was her waving her arms around in the air, and it took me a few seconds to realize she was mimicking the conductor’s movements. She was trying to conduct the big dance scene being performed onstage. Later, as Belle was tending to Beast’s wound from the wolf fight, the little girl was leaning forward in anticipation, and jumped in her seat when Beast yelled in pain. I found it fascinating how engaged she was, I’d never seen someone that into a performance before. But my favorite reaction was what she did after the enchanted objects had defended the castle from the villagers. The enchanted objects finished chasing off the last invading villager, and the audience was clapping with delight, but that wasn’t enough for the little girl. She gave the enchanted objects an enthusiastic standing ovation. After the performance was over, she could hardly wait for her mother to collect her things so they could go out and get autographs.

      The similarity between authors and actors is they are both story tellers, they just have different ways of telling a story. We authors may not always get to see a little girl jumping when one of our characters yells in pain, or get a standing ovation when the main character’s home is defended from invaders, yet we do get the joy of seeing others liking our story so much, they want to act it out onstage for others to see and enjoy.