Say My Name Or Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is quoted as saying,

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
            By any other name would smell as sweet;

While Shakespeare does make a point about your name not defining who you are, I’m certain that if a rose were called burlap or the velvet flower, you might feel differently about it.

            This is a post is about names. Specifically, your character’s names. A character’s name is the reader’s first introduction to the person they’ll be spending the next 300 to 400 pages with.

For example, Remington Stevens III might be a trust fund baby and Clover Sunshine Jones might be the daughter of hippies. There is so much a name can tell us right off the bat. And each name carries its own energy. Even though you might have chosen carefully, sometimes a name can get away from you.

Now, I’ll be the first person to tell you that I’m neurotic about my character names (just as my critique group!). If the energy doesn’t feel right for the story, I chuck it or use it for a street name or a toss away character. Even then, sometimes it doesn't work.

I’ve been struggling lately with my prequel. The story is a little villainous, if  not, unique. It made sense, but it just wasn’t working. After talking with my critters (critique partners), I realized that my protagonist was to blame. She was young and bratty, self-serving, and insanely jealous. I had named her Nalo, which is a wonderful name for her. She was strong and self-assured, and knew what she wanted. But Nalo, proved to have an energy that I wasn’t prepared to deal with and she was taking over my story in a negative way.

If I had cast her as the villain, she would’ve been perfect, but she needed to be a likable protag and she was telling me, over and over, that she was a bad guy. Damnit. So after some brainstorming, I decided to cast “Nalo” aside and start new.

The new protag’s name is Hasana and she is working out much better. Compared to Nalo, her name sounds softer and looks more pleasing to the eye. She sounds a bit older and more refined. Perfect for the fairy princess that she is. My critters agree that the change was for the better.

So the moral of the story is, don't be afraid of the energy surrounding your names. When its right, the story will unfold naturally and the protag will be everything you want him/her to be. And don’t be upset if you have to change a main character’s name. The switch up could be just what you need to save your story.

How Revising is like Gardening or Making your Novel Show Worthy

I am deeply entrenched in the revising of my first novel, The Puppet Mistress. After I typed “The End,” I looked back on my work with pride. Here was my shiny new novel, ready for its debut.

Now that it’s had a chance to sit, I’m finding that perhaps my novel is not as worth of the Better Homes and Gardens cover as I thought. It’s not bad, but maybe should be moved to the back yard. So here we go with the new landscaping plans. (yes some of these points apply to editing as well, but when you're doing an overhaul, everything smooshes together)

1)   Gardening means pulling the weeds: Revising also means reevaluating those prosy phrases your married to, killing all those extraneous words and pulling out the other fluff and crap you’ve managed to cram into your scenes.

2)   The soil has to be top notch quality: it doesn’t matter what you write, if the foundation of the story is shotty. A great tale needs the support of great characters and a compelling plot if it’s ever going to come to fruition. And keep your readers attention. Is your particular voice engaging? Is the tale a twist on an old favorite? Are your characters believable and have the ability to change?

3)   Adding a splash of color increases curb appeal: Some chapters need to be tightened and shorted or deleted entirely. Other chapters have room for expansion to further develop plot or character. I’ve done both with pleasing results. Here’s the chance to add a detail here you may have missed during the first draft.

4)   Pruning will help the roses bloom: Simplification and clarification are great tools. Tightening the story telling not only balances out the pacing but it also keeps the reader buckled safely in their seats. Nothing’s worse than killing the pacing by having dinner table conversation or an info dump.

5)   Sweat equity applies to the garden too: No one said this was going to be easy. In some ways, it’s almost harder that writing the novel ever way. But considering the amount of time you spent on the first draft, your work deserves the scrutiny and rewrites that will only serve to improve the story. I have the blisters to prove this work is worth it. A tight, well-written, and compelling story is what agents are looking for during judging.

Writing Puppet Mistress was born out of my need to prove I was a legit writer. With that experience under my belt, I’m now proving to myself that I’m a legit self-editor. I’m glad I had a chance to make The Puppet Mistress over. Cause if you thought she was cute before, wait till you see her now.