What's in a name - part 3: Choosing character names.

Naming characters was fun! My main character was Beckett (Beck) from day one. Kole's name came later when it hit me that Kole and Beck together form my maiden name, Kolbeck. I decided to integrate names of people important to me in some way as well. All 4 of my kids' names are incorporated as last names in some variation. From my son, Connor came Josh's last name of Conners. My son, Ethan, is honored by the character Travis Eithun. Next was Levi; I used the spelling of his name backwards to give Paul Ivel a last name. Levi has always said Ivel is his alien name. Lastly, the character name Marshal Clarence was derived from my daughter, Claire's name. Marshal's name was further created to honor my parents: Marcia and Clarion. Yes, Claire was named after her grandpa!

When trying to come up with a last name for Dolly, I chose to combine the last names of two of my best friends, Daveena Schunke (Harrison) and Steve Okonek, to create Harrionek. Other names were a thank-you to the people who volunteered to read my novel and provide feedback. So, you will see names honoring Robin Kober (Krause), Samantha Martin, Emily Anderson, and Roxie Wetterau. Note that some of these names are not incorporated until book 2. My husband, Kevin, was my ultimate guinea pig, and I plan to dedicate the book to him.

While some character names just popped into my head and stayed (Mason, Josh, Stephanie, Marcus, Brandon) and a few were accidently by happenstance named after friends (Joseph, Angie), others went through some trials first. For example, Angie's name was originally Hallie, but I got feedback that it was confusing whether it was pronounced like Hailey or Halle (it was this one). So I decided to give her a first name that better matched her heritage, and Angelina (Angie) Maria Guadalupe Reyes was born. Geia's name went through some changes as well. Her first working name was Aaris and similarly Haedar was named Adis, but that didn't fit. So I researched gods, word meanings, and the like to come up with Geia and Haedar. The characters of Daniel and Emmet were named after the actors who appeared in the music video for the song Take Me to Church by Hozier as an easter egg of sorts. There are other easters eggs to look out for that I'm excited for readers to hunt down!

Book 2 will also bring a set of brothers with matching names. They are warlocks named Augustus (introduced in book 1), Julius, and Octavius. Named after months, I have yet to decide if they will have brothers and sisters to represent the rest of the months that are perhaps named, but do not appear.

To keep track of all these names, birthdays, relationships, and important dates, I made a spreadsheet listing every character, no matter how minor. Doing this prevented continuity errors in my writing. I also use spreadsheets to keep track of chapters, word count per chapter, contests and agents I've submitted to, and a few other things. I highly recommend doing this!