When I’m developing a new story, I spend countless hours just naming<\/i> the characters. I have multiple copies of baby name books and spend more time than I care to admit pouring over thousands of names trying to find the right fit. When all is said and done, I typically have a goto<\/i> list that tends to repeat in most projects, but they’re names that I like and don’t mind using over and over again, as long as the characters of the same name aren’t essentially the same character<\/i> from story to story. And even then, I end up using the names anyway because I am nothing if not a creature of habit.<\/p>\n
I think almost every single story project I’ve worked on in my writing life has had a character named Matt<\/i>. My fixation with the name Matthew<\/i> and its subsequent nicknames has been long-standing. It would have been my middle name had I been born a boy. It was the name of my very favorite Mouseketeer<\/i>, whom I loved so very much through my formative teen years. And it’s held by countless other celebrity crushes I’ve waxed obsessive about over the years.<\/p>\n
Because it’s completely irrelevant: the top Matts<\/i> of the list right now are Matt Hullum<\/a><\/b> (hello, Rooster Teeth<\/i>), Matt Nathanson<\/a><\/b> (hello fucking talented…and pretty), and Matt Morris<\/span><\/b> (because always<\/i>).<\/p>\n Despite reoccurring in just about every project, the token Matt<\/i> character varies greatly from story to story (as much as my characters vary<\/i>…because if we’re being honest…they don’t<\/i>). So even if it’s terribly repetitive to use the same name in every plot, it’s not the same character.<\/p>\n And then there are the other characters<\/i>. Some names just click as soon as I put them down on the page. Others…go through countless renames before I find the right one. And even when I finally decide on a name, it doesn’t always fit<\/i> just how I want it to. Sometimes I keep circling back to the same name because I can’t seem to picture that character with any other, even if it’s not quite right<\/i> for the story. I’m running in circles with this naming dilemma right now with the current project (the Kate and Michael premise<\/a><\/b>). I agonized over using the name Kate<\/i> for a long time because there are at least three other projects in the pipeline with a character named Kate<\/i>. And not just any character, she’s the main character<\/i>. One project is inconsequential, one hasn’t been touched in…probably a year or more, and one…we’ll see yet. This one<\/i>…as much as I scour name books, I keep circling back to Kate<\/i> and can’t picture her with any other name. I don’t know why. There are a few other characters on the list that I’m having the same battle with, one of which is a fairly significant player in the game. And yet…when I named the character Michael<\/i>…it fit and it stuck.<\/p>\n So where was I going with all of this? Hell if I know. But it’s not stopping me from babbling incoherently about it.<\/p>\n There has been one character in particular that has been giving me trouble in this current name game and, as per usual, I keep circling back to the same name even though it doesn’t quite fit. (The name in question being Joel<\/i>. I landed on that name and then realized it just wasn’t going to work after writing fifty-some pages. But it’s stuck in my brain anyway. Because hello are you new<\/a><\/i>???) So I’ve been racking my brain trying to find the right name for this character. I almost used Joe<\/i> before I realized I had just named two important characters Mike and Joe<\/i> and things just got awkward. The names on their own work fine in my head, but pairing them together gets a little weird.<\/p>\n I might have it figured out though. I was laying in bed trying<\/i> to get to sleep (*snirt* riiiiight) and a dim light bulb went off. I’ll have to find\/replace all and see how things read. Even if find\/replace all isn’t going to quite work because there are nicknames involved and I’d be better off finding each instance of Joel<\/i> individually and picking and chosing which name or nickname fits best in a given place. Which wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t used the name Joel<\/i> 138 times<\/i><\/b> so far in this fekking project.<\/p>\n I am a glutton for punishment.<\/p>\n Clearly.<\/p>\n Goddammit, Joel.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n