You think it’s easy, naming characters? Ha! It’s harder than naming your own baby. In fact, it’s one of the hardest things about writing—for me, anyway. I was talking with an acquaintance the other day who said, “How about using my name in your next book? I don’t care if I’m playing a villain or a hero—or even just a walk-on part.” It put me on the spot. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings but choosing names for characters doesn’t work like that. It can be a daunting prospect—especially for authors who, like me, write historical novels. First and most important, the name has to fit the era. My mysteries are set in the Roaring Twenties, so names popular in the 1950s or 1970s or today may not w
I think most writers and artists of any creative field would agree on this one. Very often we all get stuck groping for a word, the right phrase, or maybe we’ve just come up bone dry on ideas. The more we rack our brains to find the perfect solution to express what we need, the more elusive it seems. Most often, the best thing to do is just leave it and move on to something else. Some of us even request it out loud with an, “Okay, I need a better word here—help!” When we do this we’re invoking our MUSE to “inspire” us. Usually, it only takes a minute for the answer. Who is this Muse? Could it be the spirit of a late author guiding us from the other side? Or… Originally, the word muse was der
