Right now I'm getting ready for Nano and one of the things I have to do, now that I know who I'm writing about, is to find names for my new characters. It's important because it's part of their character (check out 8/13's post talking about the Name Game for more info).

Where do I go for a name? The writer's best friend is the baby name finder. No it's not just for parents to be anymore. I love the baby name finder. I've gone to the library for baby name books, but after getting so many strange looks from the librarians and finding that most baby name books are following current trends instead of simply listing names, their origins, and meanings. The baby name finder websites give you all of that and make the searching process a lot easier.

I have a love affair with Celtic, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish names and looking through a baby name book made finding those specific names almost impossible. Rhoswen's name comes from the Gaelic for white rose (yes that was intentional). It also means rose in Welsh. I found it on a baby name finder.

My advice to you would be to find a baby name finder that you're comfortable with. You find it easy to use, easy to understand, and the meanings of the names are more universal. Meanings can change from finder to finder sometimes, so make sure you try to use one that has meanings that are commonly accepted. Bookmark it, put it in your favorites, whatever. Just make sure you don't lose it.

When it's time to create a new character, the name is sometimes the hardest part. But if you know where to look, at least that's part of the battle that's been won.

First of all, I want to apologize for my absence this week. No, I don't have a note from my mother. We have had some internet issues this past weekend and since I post in advance (and no one is surprised by this because I have no internet at home), my posts were postponed. I'm sorry.

Last week we talked about characters. Knowing who your characters are is extremely important. But what good is it to know him inside and out but not have a name for him? It might not seem important to have a good name, but you should never underestimate the importance of what you call him.

I never really thought names were important. It's a name, what's the big deal? It's not like it's a child or a dog or something right? Wrong!

If you have this romantic hero and you name him Herbert, it ruins the image of the character. Is Herbert even a name that's used anymore? However, this same hero could be named something like Leif or Justin or Marcus. Suddenly, he has a whole different look right? Just the change of the name changed your perception. That's why it's important.

In Prophecy, I named my vampire king Seven. Why? Everyone's been asking me why lately. It's easy. Sometimes a character will tell you what his name is. I know, crazy right? The look I got said something like this: "Okay Kell, now I'm going to back away slowly. Please don't like knock me unconscious and drink my blood." But I'm completely serious. Seven told me that was what his name was. When I tried to change it, I could see him rolling his eyes and smiling at me like I'm an idiot.

Naming villains and secondary characters are just as important as naming a hero and heroine. Seven wouldn't be complete without his Guard, Ulrich and Chocon (that's pronounced SHO-coan for those of you who wonder). Ulrich is in homage to the late Heath Ledger's character in A Knight's Tale. But Ulrich agreed with me on it. Chocon on the other hand wouldn't let me call him anything else. The story wouldn't be the same with the Guard being called Rufus and Edgar.

Speaking of villains, I got Varick's name from a baby name finder. His name literally means conqueror I believe. It was picked off of a list and it suits him. His name originally was going to be Vincent. It wouldn't have worked out very well. For my villain in Legacy, my husband found the name Nathail, which means snake. It was too good to pass up.

Now that I've put you to sleep thinking about character names, please take note of one thing. The more unique a name is, the more questions you'll have about it. Chocon's name is hard for people to pronounce. I get a lot of questions about it. Rhoswen's name is another one people are having trouble with (pronounced RHOS-when). It's gaelic for white rose and there's a double meaning in that.

Remember that a character won't be able to change his or her name later on. When you're character mapping, take into consideration what that character's name is going to be. And remember, you wouldn't like getting beaten up on the playground in school right? Neither would a character. Until tomorrow!