Lesson #1: Choose Wisely Your Character’s Names
On August 11th, our 37th wedding anniversary, we celebrated by bringing home our Great Dane puppy. It was love at first sight, and in five minutes flat the gorgeous little gal turned our life upside down, especially my writing schedule. But I soon found out she had a few things to teach me about the craft.
Lesson #1: think very carefully what your character’s name is, because you will be using it a lot, and you’ll get royally sick of it. At the end of Day 1 with our 8 week old, I had used her name, Bridget, at least 1,000 times. I counted. Okay, I didn’t really, but it seemed like it. It’s a good name, and can be changed to Brisket, when I’m hungry.
Likewise, think about those character names that will abide in your brain for a very long time. Say the name aloud; make sure it doesn’t tie your tongue in knots. Also, don’t have two characters whose names that start with the same consonant. It just gets confusing.
It’s a well known fact that Great Danes are not the brain surgeons of the dog world. That’s okay. She’s a canine idiot savant when it comes to writing. And her bladder is huge. Huge.
Stay tuned for more stories about our growing girl. At the rate of ½ lb a day, to be exact.