There are a few things I put a lot, a lot, a lot, of effort into when I'm writing. It's probably all for nothing, but I just can't help myself. I take a lot of care and a lot of time when deciding my character's names. I know that many people may not see the sense in this, but I find it to be incredibly important. I've said this many times, and I'll say it again. I am pretty sure that I think of my characters in a semi abnormal way. Scratch that, I think of all characters in an abnormal way. For instance, I view my characters as my children, my babies. I take extreme caution when deciding on their names. I would never name my fictional babies something I wouldn't name my future real life babies. Names are important, sometimes they are our first impressions of a person.
When it comes to reading, I feel like I develop relationships with characters. For instance, I was so delusional about "Twilight" that I believed I was exactly like Bella, and I only deserved someone exactly like Edward. I mean talk about crazy. And in the Sookie Stackhouse series, I feel like Sookie is my friend. Honestly, if she were real, I have no doubts that we would be BFFs. I would knock some sense in her. I would let her know that she should love Eric, that she is destined for Eric. But I guess that's besides my point. Or maybe it's exactly my point.
Sarah Dessen is probably my favorite Young Adult author. If I could write a story half as moving as she can, I will be beyond happy. I have read every single book she has ever published. If I ever got the amazing opportunity to be near her, I would die on the spot because my heart would not be able to handle all of the admiration. I would die from starstruck-ness. I feel like I develop these friendships with these characters. In "Just Listen", I believed Annabel to be my dear friend. I thought Owen was the complete mix of perfection. In "The Truth About Forever", Wes made me weep. I was jealous of Macy. And in my absolute favorite, "Someone Like You", I had so much sympathy for Halley. Sarah Dessen is a true blue artist, and I love every word she puts to paper.
Now that I got my obsession out of the way...Gosh. Anyway, I feel like names of characters can make or break your character. I don't know about you, but there's only so many Samantha's, Ashley's, and Jennifer's I can read about. And Sarah Dessen is a master at finding real strong names for her characters (God, I'm pathetic). My most favorite name for a future character is Harper. Gosh I love that name. It's so strong and independent.
I also think that titles can be extremely important. A lot of the times, a title can make or break your story. I mean, if you give something a completely uninteresting name, how can you expect anyone to be intrigued enough to pick it up? I think titles are absolutely the thing I struggle with the most. I mean how can you take a whole story and capture it's amazing-ness in just a few words. One of my favorite titles ever is, "Where do you go when your skin cannot contain you?" I have to read that short story this semester, and gosh, talk about a strong and intriguing title.
I'm excited to say, though, that I have completed the rough draft to a short fictional story I've been working on. I'm really, really excited about it. I think it's a really strong story. I came up with the title just last night, and I'm really proud of what I came up with. Now, if I could get it published, wouldn't that be something?
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