writing wednesday! too much coolness is not cool

This Writing Wednesday is about naming characters.  And why you have to do it carefully and not just buy a baby book and pick out your favorite names.

Here’s the main point of the video (and you’ll notice that I DO NOT actually SAY IT in the video):

Characters and names have a relationship to each other.  That’s what’s important about character names.  It’s not just what the name itself says about your character.  It’s what your character’s relationship to that name says about your character.  And you don’t even have to talk about that relationship.  It can be implied.  But it has to BE THERE.  Cause babies don’t pick their names.  But they do have to live with them.  And there are little mini-stories in there–about how they like or don’t like, endure or change, cringe about or tout, fit or don’t fit their names–that make your characters more interesting.

That’s why you have to be careful with names.

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And PS:  Morty was actually more popular as a baby name in the 1920s and 30s.  Sorry–I can’t think and talk.  But you get the idea…

PPS: I want to state for the record that I LOVE the name Jenny (main character of my 1st novel). And also Barbara, Morty, and Zoey.  When you see those names pop up in one of my books, you saw it here first.

PPPS:  Very sorry for that terrifying YouTube still.  Whoever picks the stills for YouTube uploads has the wrong job.