I decided to go for a rather long blog title this time.

Remember how I really didn’t want to leave LiveJournal? Well, I guess I changed my mind. I mean, LJ won’t even let me have a hit counter. And nobody was really using it anymore. So at first I was being kind of stubborn, avoiding Blogger solely because everyone else was using it. I guess now I give up. So I’ve transferred the past three blog entries on my LJ, and this is my blog now. I kind of really hope it’ll be the last time I have to switch blogs.

And I have a very long blog title now. A long and awesome one. Now, who can help me get a new blog template that’s actually cool? :P

Another question I have stolen from Cherise who stole it from…oh, I give up. (This writing meme is so cool!)

How do you come up with names for characters (and for places if you're writing about fictional places)?

I hate naming characters.

Hate hate hate.

With a passion.

Can’t they just name themselves?

I mean…it’s so troublesome. I come up with the first name, which I like, but after about twenty pages of writing it, I need to find a new one that better suits my char’s personality.

The only character of mine who has ever kept their name from the first page I ever wrote them was Garret. And when I first wrote him, his name was Garrett. With two T’s. Everyone else has been through at least six different names, and I just can’t stand it. I don’t like random name generators, and I really hate coming up with weird fantasy names that nobody in existence would get away with on this earth.

But as for how I come up with them. I sort of play with names on name websites until I find one I like, or on a lucky day, I can get a good one off the top of my head. I never get attached to them, though. Naming characters, for me, isn’t something you just do and forget about. For me, it lasts throughout the entirety of the writing process, then editing, and I guess names will only be sealed when I eventually get published. So Garret might turn into something else, until then.

For places, it’s considerably easier. When I was twelve-ish I had fun gathering street names and sounds and things I could combine to become place names. So that’s not really a problem for me right now. I just recycle names from old stories that I really liked. Eventually I’m going to run out of them, and I will worry about that when the time comes. Right now I’m happy with reusing old names.