Ouija Boards and Keyboards

I'm sure it's the fact that Halloween's coming up, but I've had the song "Thriller" stuck in my head lately. I've also been thinking a lot about Ouija boards.

It seemed like every slumber party I went to, right after we crank-called all the boys in our class, someone would haul out the Ouija board and want to have a seance. Even at the age of eleven or twelve I was a huge skeptic.

Me: "This is so stupid."
Friends: "Let's just try it."
Me: "How about we put 'Off the Wall' back on the record player and make up a new line dance?"
Friends: "You're scared to try the Ouija board!"

And they were right. Wasn't it tempting fate to hope someone from the spirit world would drop by and answer our questions by physically moving our fingers across the board? I'd seen the Exorcist, and wasn't keen on the idea of my body being possessed by anyone for any length of time.

Anyway, I bring this up because as I go back and read pages of stories I've written, I sometimes experience that weird Ouija feeling of "Did I really write that? Because it doesn't sound like me." And then I realize, it's really not me. It's my heroine, or my hero, or my villian. But instead of communicating by gliding a planchette over a Ouija board, they're moving my fingers over the keyboard. [Insert creepy music here.]

Yeah, maybe it's a stretch. Apparently, I've watched one too many episodes of the Ghost Whisperer.

Contest Update . . . and an Explanation

October's been an exciting month! First, The Kissable Companion won the Historical Unpublished Maggie. The way I've been wearing my medallion everywhere (i.e., the grocery store, soccer games, to the mailbox) you'd think I was Michael Phelps or something. Then, The Trouble with Twilight took second place in the Indiana Golden Opportunity. Both stories are new, and it was the first contest placement for each. And I feel like I need to explain.

Waaaay back in the beginning of summer, in the midst of that exhilarating, just-out-of-school rush, I had two story ideas. Both had heroines who were companions, but with personalities that were polar opposites. I decided to write the first three chapters and a synopsis for each story and see which one I liked better.

But I was still torn. So, I submitted each to a couple of contests. I figured the judges could give me a sense of which story had more potential. Unfortunately, neither story emerged as the clear winner. I decided to finish The Trouble with Twilight first.

I'm still writing, but I'm on track to finish the first draft of TTWT by Thanksgiving. After that, I'll have lots of revising to do (which I'm actually looking forward to). But then I'll finally get to finish the The Kissable Companion. Unless I decide to write the sequel to The Trouble with Twilight first . . .

What's in a Name?

One of the funnest things about (a) being pregnant, or (b) writing a novel, is you get to pick out names. (There are actually a lot of similarities between being pregnant and writing a novel, but I won't go into that here.) Suffice it to say that in each case, choosing a name is one of the first decisions you make. And it's a biggie.

Here are some questions I ask myself when picking names for my characters.

• Is the name appropriate to the time period and to the character's station in life? This might require a little research, but nothing too heavy. A couple of years ago I found a nice list of Victorian-era names on-line, printed it out, and stuck it in a notebook. I also had to brush up on titles, correct forms of address, and peerage basics. If you watch a lot of Jane Austen movies, you've got a good start in this department. ;)


• Is the name clearly masculine/feminine [to correspond with the character's sex]? I once read a historical romance where the hero had a feminine-sounding name, at least by today's standards. It threw me for a loop throughout the story. Very jarring in love scenes.


• Do the hero and heroine's names begin with different letters? It's tempting to have an "Alec & Abigail or a "Benjamin & Beatrice," but if you like to use first initials when brainstorming/plotting, it's just not worth it. Trust me.


• Is is somewhat original? But not too original? I try to find names that are familiar, but not terribly overused. I'm not always successful though. Kind of like finding out there are four kids in your daughter's preschool class with her name.


• Is the name subtle? I like names that are a bit surprising. For example, I had a tomboyish heroine that I gave the ultra-feminine name of Isabella. The heroine in my wip is named Patience, but she's always tapping her toe and gnashing her teeth over something. :)


• Does the name roll off your tongue when you read it aloud? I try to avoid names that are hard to pronounce or trip me up for whatever reason. But I liked the name "Rhys" (pronounced "Reese") so much I broke my own rule.


• How do the hero and heroine's names sound together? Hopefully, when they're paired up, they have sort of a "Romeo & Juliet" quality. Here are my couples: Isabella & Owen, Amelia & Craven, Phoebe & Rhys, and Patience & Simon. *Sigh*

Cool link: This is a fun little program that creates all sorts of combinations of Regency names. http://www.ugoi.net/nonsense/name.html

What about you? If you're a writer, what are your hero/heroine's names? How did you pick? If you're a reader, what kinds of names do you like?