So, now that I have “finished” my first book and am working on books 2 and 3, I have been doing some research (some might call it procrastination … but I’m sure it will all be useful in the end).
Anyway, along with working on these next two books, I am being bombarded by ideas on how to improve my first book – some scenes will need a re-write, some stakes will need to be ramped up … I wanted it to be finished, and I know I am close, but I can see some of the comments I’m likely to get from reviewers/editors already, and I want to fix them so they can be left to only say the really hurtful things.
I was checking out a website full of advice on novel-writing, and one of the things it pointed out is that nothing in a novel should be a coincidence. Sure, they happen in real life. Not in fiction. Well, according to a lady at Pixmar, bad stuff can happen at random. But not good stuff.
But my point from the first site mentioned isn’t about “bad” or “good” events. It’s about everything, even character names. Yes. Apparently, they have to mean something to the story. So I thought Uh oh, I’m gonna have to change some names here … But guess what? Well … Rather than tell you, I’m a gonna show you … see, I is good storyteller (o:
| Names: | Closest Real Life Version(s): | Meaning: |
| Llewella: | Luella, or Llewellyn (male, and the name I actually based it on) | “Female Warrior”, or “Like A Lion” |
| Jonas: | “Gift from God”, or “Accomplishing” | |
| Braph: | Can’t find | |
| Alvaro: | “Truth-speaker”, or Guardian | |
| Aris: | Can’t Find | |
| Cassidy: | Clever, Intelligent | |
| Anyunca/Anya: | Anya = variant of Anna | Gracious |
| Hisham: | Can’t find (despite being the only character named after someone (virtually) I’ve met) | |
| Emylia: | Emelia | “Industrious”, “Striving” |
For those who have read any or all of what I’ve written … what do you think? Think I need to change any names?
The only one I’ve really had queried so far was “Hisham”, because he comes from a similar area to Jonas but his name sounds different. But I’m dragging my feet on that, because “Jonas” is generally Hebrew or Israeli (or Spanish, apparently), and Hisham is from the same general region – physically, though perhaps not religiously …
I think my favourite revelations here are the “Female Warrior/Like a Lion” for Llew, and the “Clever, Intelligent” for Cassidy. In Cassidy’s case, that’s how I cast him, even if he doesn’t often act that way. I still think of him as such. He’s smart. That’s why he’s so good at playing the goofball. And Alvaro is a bit of a Truth-sayer and Guardian. Not a very effective one when there’s a Syakaran around to better him, but he tries.
And the toddler wakes.
And here endeth the lesson.