A skunk cabbage by any other name...
Tonight (Tuesday) I'll be emceeing Brandon Mull's Fablehaven 5 release party, 6:30 pm, Cottonwood High School, Salt Lake City, Ut. I've never seen book events like what Shadow Mountain does for Fablehaven. They're amazing. They fill up a 2-3 thousand seater auditorium, so come early if you want a seat. It's so fun to see huge crowds excited about books!
Thursday, March 25, Dean, Nate, and I will be signing at the Orem Barnes & Noble, our first Utah Valley event for calamity jack! This may be the last joint event the three of us do, so come get a coveted triple-signed book. Please note that due to time constraints, there will be some signing limits. Dean, Nate, and I will happily sign and personalize all your copies of rapunzel's revenge and calamity jack. I will also sign all my other novels, but I will only personalize those books purchased that evening. I'm sorry to have to make that exception, but it is necessary this time.
Several commenters from the last post wanted to know about when I rename characters. I do it all the time. Often in my outlines, I won't even name characters, giving them designations like MC (main character) or F (friend), etc. When writing a first draft, I give characters the first name that pops into my head. I don't like to slow down the writing process name shopping for too long. Sometimes I'll keep that first name for the first draft, or several drafts, or forever. But other times, the name just doesn't feel right, and I'll do a search and replace.
Some examples:
Ani/Isi in goose girl was originally Talianna-Kiladra Anidori Isilee, and she went by Talia. When I renamed Selia, I liked her name so much I switched Ani's name around.
goose girl had lots of changes, but it wasn't until a few drafts in I decided to consult a medieval Germanic name list. Geric was originally named Wilder. I'm reusing the name Wilder currently in Daisy Danger Brown. Enna was Peta (reused that name in RS) and Razo was Rin (reused that too!). Rinna was Birch in river secrets until near the final draft. I liked Birch, but someone else didn't, I think my editor, so I went back to her brother's original name, which I'd liked so well but just hadn't fit him. I like that z in Razo.
Becky Jack had many different names. She was Jenny for awhile, and her husband Mike was Dave. Most of the names in the actor and the housewife changed. I used placeholder names until near the final draft, when I went through and somewhat randomly changed all the characters to names of my relatives. That was fun to do, though I still can't remember some of the characters' names because I sometimes still think of them by their originals. This book was my most extreme case of name changing.
I used placeholder names for all of princess academy until a few drafts in when I renamed them all using a list of old Scandinavian names. Except for Miri. I'd grown too attached to her name. To justify that she didn't have a traditional Scandinavian name, I said she was named after a flower, which I was able to develop into a nice metaphor for her. Change brings serendipity brings meaning!
I think my tendency to name change is ust indicative of how much I change when I write, and how I don't let myself get too attached to the way anything is in a first draft. I work in clay, not marble. Nothing that happens in my first drafts are inevitable. I wish they were! It'd make things a lot easier.