One of the many useful things my editor has taught me is the importance of keeping a list of characters names.
Whilst doing this, (and in fact one reader did point out), I’ve found I have a preference towards names that start with the letter J.
In my first novel, ‘He is Not Worthy’, the love interest was called Josh, then there is also a Jon, James, Jed, Janice, Jinny, Julia, Jackie and Johnny – not to be confused with Jon. (My present editor did not edit this first novel, because she would have commented on the similarity of Johnny and Jon)!
Then when it comes to my second novel ‘Echoes of Drowning’ – J rears it’s ugly head again with: Jess (one of my main characters), Jamie, Jack, Jackie, James, Jane, Jim, and Johnny yet again, although it a different person.
For the third novel, ‘The Identity Enigma’, some of the characters from book two appear, so we meet both James and Jess again. However, there are new characters, Jaz, Jackson and another Jim, although not the same Jim as book two!
I’m now planning a trilogy, where there is a main family, whose stories cross the three books. And I realised when thinking about writing this blog – have I used many J’s this time. I only have one main character with a J – Grampy Joe, and a lesser character called John.
I have to own up though; initially, I did have three sisters all with names beginning with J (they have parents who do that thing of giving their children names that start with the same letter) – but I’ve now altered them to names beginning with E.
Where do I get my love of names beginning with J -I’ve no idea. However, I’m not alone in the world, because it does seem that the letter J is one the most common letters for first names to start with – along with M, S, D and C.
When you are creating a world of characters for a story, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of repeating names. Especially when you write characters who live in the real world rather than a fantasy, where you have the scope to create new names to your hearts content.
The other thing about names – they always have certain associations with people you’ve known and met during your lifetime. There are certain names I don’t like, because of the person I associate them with, just as for some reason I always think of Sally as a very happy person, because the people I’ve known with that name have had a happy disposition.
So, in the end it’s a matter of choosing a name that is popular for that person and their standing in life, the time-period in which they exist and how the name resonates to their character.
With that in mind, I’m looking forward to writing the stories of Honey, Finn and Keiran.