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For Writers and Self-Publishers

What??™s in a Name? Giving Birth to your Characters  By Celise Downs    So you??™ve got your plot outlined, a title lined up and the research is done. You??™re ready to start writing your novel. But wait. Now comes the fun part: creating names for your characters. One of the best things about being a writer??”besides the innate ability to create imaginary worlds??”is giving birth to a character and then bestowing a name upon him or her. True, you didn??™t carry the character in your womb for nine months (especially if you??™re male). But he or she could??™ve been in your head for nine months??¦or nine years. So choosing a name for your characters seems almost as important as the one you would give your own child.  The name you decide on will dictate the reader??™s perception of that character, so select wisely. If your character is an agoraphobic scientist, he or she should not be named Brittany or Rick. Does this bunch of hoo-hah sound familiar to you? Raise your hand now, don??™t be shy. I thought so. Now let me remove the rose-colored sunglasses so you all can see the harsh light of reality. The reality being that having a common name conjures up a stereotypical image. What picture forms in your head when you hear the name Tiffany? Pretty, popular, blonde-haired cheerleader? What about the name Melvin? Skinny guy with glasses and a pocket protector? Now what comes to mind when you hear something unique like Lyric? Or Dax?  We as writers have been blessed with a wonderful gift. We are a rare species unto ourselves in such a way that we can build alternate realities for the public to enter. We are storytellers that pull ideas out of our bu-that is-minds, invent our own language even, and the only names we can come up with for our characters are Johns, Susans, Kathleens, and Sams? Unacceptable. These are perfectly good names, don??™t get me wrong, but they??™re safe names. I used to be in an online critique group and someone said that if your main character has an unusual name, the secondary characters should have more common names; that way, it won??™t be so confusing to the reader. My initial response wasn??™t printable, but I can tell you that it sort of went a little like this: ???Who died and made you Ruler of the Writing World? Heaven forbid we throw our readers a curve ball every once in a while.???  It??™s called variety, folks. In the Dictionary, this word is defined as ???the quality or condition of being various or varied; diversity.??? If you don??™t step outside your comfort zone and offer your readers some different flavors, you??™re not going to sell any books. I decided from the get-go that all the characters in my books were going to have unique names. I wanted to stand out from the pack and dance my own little jig. So here are some suggestions on finding primo names for your characters:  1)      Books, Magazines, and Newspapers ??“ These are wonderful sources. In magazines and newspapers, a story, a self-help column or even a product ad could house a name that would be worth writing down. People use baby books to choose names for their children, so why not do the same for your characters? These books can be very in-depth, stating the meaning of the name as well as its origin. I??™ve used The Writer??™s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook (1994, Sherrilyn Kenyon with Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet). It features more than 20,000 first and last names and their meanings from around the world: Norse, Slavic, Teutonic, Arthurian Legend Names, and more.  I??™ve also discovered the hidden cache of names in other people??™s books. I??™m severely addicted to the adult romance books that come out every month: Harlequin Blaze and Temptation, and Silhouette Desire. And my favorite authors are Janelle Denison, Kristine Grayson, Carly Phillips, and Julie Kenner. Every once in a while, I??™ll find a name in their books that I can add to my continually growing list. Science fiction, time travel and fantasy books are good for names as well.  2)      Walk of Fame - Hollywood actors and actresses may have been born with common names like Julia and Brad, but that doesn??™t mean their offspring have to suffer the same fate. Will and Jada Smith??™s children: Willow and Jaden; Demi Moore??™s girls: Scout LaRue, Rumer Glen and Tallulah Belle; Gwenyth Paltrow??™s daughter: Apple Blythe; John Travolta and Kelly Preston??™s son: Jett; Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke??™s son: Ronin. Singer Brandi??™s daughter: Sy??™rai; Thomas Jane (The Punisher) and Rosanna Arquette??™s daughter: Harlow.   Even some famous faces were lucky enough to have been born with one-of-a-kind names: Keanu Reeves, Jude Law, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Macaulay Culkin, Kiefer Sutherland, Oprah Winfrey.   3)      Movies and Television Shows ??“ This avenue isn??™t as unorthodox as you might think. I guarantee someone out there could come forward and claim, ???I was named after some character on a soap opera.??? Ridge and Thorne Forrester, The Bold and The Beautiful; Topanga Morris, Boy Meets World; Teal??™c, Stargate SG-1; Leelou, The Fifth Element (my favorite movie of all time); Blade, Ellora Danan, Willow; Teela, He-Man cartoons. Need I say more?  4)      Daily Life - For almost two years, I worked the night shift, keying medical claims. Due to that job, I now have a nice long two-paged list of boys and girls names. You would not believe how many wonderfully unusual names I came across every time I flipped a page: Princess, Precious, Treasure, Oreo, Malachi, Ashanti, Treyvon, Diabolique (for real!), Natividad??¦the list goes on and on. Just think. You could be sitting at your desk, standing in line at the grocery store/coffee shop/fast food joint, listening to a song on the radio, eavesdropping on a conversation, or talking to your neighbor and the next thing you know, you??™re bombarded with names for your characters. Being a writer, one can only hope that you??™re aware of your surroundings at all times and can see a potential story in everything that goes on around you.  5)      Character Naming Contest/Vote ??“ I did this for my third book, which will be Book One in a teen series I??™m creating. I had about four different combinations of a name I was trying to come up with for my main character. I sent an email out to my co-workers, close friends and family, asking them to vote on the name they liked best. The name that got the most votes became the name for my character. In return, I??™ll be including a special thank-you on the Dedication Page of the book. Although there are too many names to print, if they buy the book, they??™ll know they had a hand in choosing the name of the character. If you go the contest route, offer the winner a free copy of the book, a special gift, etc. If anything, you??™ll get plenty of names for future books.  I attended a book festival in Prescott, AZ last year. A mother and daughter came up to my table, read the back covers of both books, then walked away. A half hour later, they came back and purchased my first book (Secrets and Kisses) because the female character??™s name was Skylar. For whatever reason, the name meant something to that young girl. It could??™ve been her name, the name of her friend, a relative??¦who knows? The point is, your readers are going to appreciate an ???anomalous, exceptional, extraordinary, far out, incomparable, inimitable, special, standout, strange, uncommon??? name. Now, you are ready to begin writing your novel. Your character has been born, breathing passages cleared (nice set of lungs there), weighed, measured??¦and awaiting a name. Get creative, step outside the box and remember??¦ a rose by any other name should be something besides Tom, Dick, Harry and Jane.    Copyright ?© 2004 Celise Downs. Reprinted with permission. Celise is a Young Adult fiction author and owner of Gemini Mojo Press. Her books, ???Secrets and Kisses??? (Mar 2004) and ???Dance Jam Productions??? (Sept 2004), are currently available on the publisher website at www.GeminiMojoPress.com/.      Resource of the Month Self Published Authors/Online for Books - Are you an author who has self-published a book? Are you trying to market and promote it yourself? If the answer is "yes" then this is a site that can help you. We offer fr*ee listings for anyone who already has a web site and would like a listing in our database, as a courtesy we ask that you link back to this site.

Just for Fun

Did You Know...? The name for a teddy bear collector is "archtophilist"?

General Info

Prosveta Publishing is pleased to offer you the Daily Meditation for this 2004-11-26.   "Ageing is generally considered to be an ordeal. And it is true that for most people getting old is a very unpleasant trial, because they have not lived in harmony with divine laws. But in fact, old age can be the best stage of one's life. For those who have nourished an ideal during their youth and adulthood, many things improve during old age: understanding and lucidity, for example. How can this be explained? By the fact that the mind and the physical body do not evolve in the same way. The legs, the eyes and the ears begin to betray us, but the life of the soul and the spirit becomes increasingly rich and abundant. It is as if one finally tasted the fruits of one's efforts. So prepare yourselves: think about living in the right way while you are young, so that later you may taste this abundance of fruits."   Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov   ----------------------------------------------------------- BRACELETS FOR A CAUSE... 1) Hero bracelet: Honor those who have died in Iraq by ordering a bracelet from www.herobracelets.org. Each black, anodized aluminum bracelet is engraved with the name, rank,  hometown and date of death of an American solider. The bracelets cost $8.50, and $2 will be donated to the Fallen Heroes Fund, a non-profit fund that provides aid to the families left behind. 2) Recovery bracelet: For something close to home, check out the Recovery Bracelet, made with freshwater pearls of different colors and sizes. It was created by Phoenix jewelry designer Sharon Sullivan in honor of her brother, who was critically injured in a dirt bike accident. Sales benefit the Barrow Rehab Center at Barrow Neurological Institute of Phoenix. The bracelet is $30 at www.sharonsullivan.com. 3) Lucky Stars bracelet: Through Jan. 15, Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation and Embassy Suites will offer a purple bracelet at the front desks of Embassy Suites Hotels. The foundation works to brighten the lives of ill children and their families. The bracelet is $2; all proceeds benefit Starlight Starbright. www.slsb.org.  ~ Emily Seftel, Arizona Republic --------------------------------------------------------------- Winning Entry: December "Spill the Details: DO OVER" Contest My most embarrassing moment was when I was competing in a swim meet and my top came off!    ~ Diane P., 17, Cedar Rapids, IA.

Classifieds and Ad Swaps Want to swap ads? Commence the sales pitchery (like that word? made that one up myself..heh, heh) at celise@geminimojopress.com. Please put "Ad Swap" in the subject line. I scratch your back, you scratch mine (with a back scratcher, of course. Fingernails can be so scraggly). That's the way it works around here. Solo ads are free, but top sponsors need to inquire about rates.  Hello Everyone, Gentle Chaos Magazine, a new joint venture between Chaos Dreams Unlimited & Gentle Storms is seeking short story writers to feature, a list of best reads, and authors to feature. We are also seeking articles/columns on finding a publicist, literary event reviews, financial advice for writers, how to create book proposals and etc....Also, if there is anyone with a definite scheduled book signing, please forward a flyer to us and we will post your information. Please send a direct email to GentleChaos@email.com if you're interested. We look forward to reading your submittals. Thank you Storm & Chaos P.S. We also have spots for a featured poet, writer, collaboration and book. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Be About It Movement is a movement that is geared to enlighten and motivate the masses.  The movement sparked with the cause of informing the African American people of the negative depiction of the black race. It is evolving and looking to grow. Therefore, we are looking for many of the enlightened, motivated, and activist writers here to submit some soul shaking content for our Organized Thought section. All the rights remain with the writer and the writer does give Be About It Movement authority to post their work. With each posted piece, we will include a byline and link to your website (we have the right to deny links after review) No degrading context or language.  Submit work that will challenge the minds of those who are lost.  Be the light for the visitors to this site. Send your submissions to beaboutit@email.com and stop by the site at http://www.beaboutit.2ya.com Peace, C.F. Jackson author, Won't Be Denied Love won't be denied.  Mare comes to value it more than life. http://www.cfjackson.us "writing to challenge the mind and entertain" ------------------------------------------------ The Celebration of Books, a literary publication of the Atlanta Daily World, needs your help for a story that we are working on.  We need to speak with people who met their spouse or had relationships with someone they met during a book club meeting or a literary event.  We are also looking for unique relationship experiences that involve books. For example, husband and wives that read to each other every night or relationships that purposefully incorporate reading in it.  Even relationships that ended because the other partner did not read or read too much are stories that we want to hear. Participants do not have to be living in the Georgia area to contribute. Anyone who wants to participate should send an e-mail to ADWCOB@yahoogroups.com by Jan. 9. Michelle Gipson Celebration of Books Publishing Manager -------------------------------------- Teen Reviewers Wanted - Do you love to read? Do you have a little free time? Gemini Mojo Press is looking for teens, ages 13-18, to review new releases. Go to www.GeminiMojoPress.com/TeenSuite/room4.html for more details. ---------------------------------------------- Writers Wanted - Do you like to write? The Teen SuiteZine is looking for teens, ages 13-18, to write articles. Topics: writing tips and advice for aspiring writers; general info (health tips, beauty, fashion, relationship advice, or anything that would be of interest to teens); reviews (movie, music, books, merchandise). If you're interested, please contact us at theteensuite@yahoo.com for Submission Guidelines. We are willing to accept articles from adults as well. For The Mojo Monthly: writing tips and/or advice for writers and self-publishers and general info (i.e., health tips, beauty, fashion, relationship advice, or anything that would be of interest to people with teens). If you're interested, please contact me at celise@geminimojopress.com for Submission Guidelines. PLEASE NOTE: Gemini Mojo Press cannot pay you for your articles, but you are guaranteed exposure if you include a Resource Box.  --------------------------------------------------------------------- Gemini Mojo Press is using a system to add thousands of opt-in leads to our list for virtually zero effort - and it's all 100% free. Find out more: http://www.listinferno.com/?i=4487&c=a5

Information & Credits

The Mojo Monthly Newsletter is published by Celise Downs, Author and Owner of Gemini Mojo Press, the 1st of every month. Subscription information This ezine is being distributed via Zinester - a mailing lists service and ezine hosting provider. You are receiving this ezine because you have bought my books, entered my contests, signed my guestbook...oh you get the gist. Do I have to spell it out for you? Puh-leeze. To subscribe--because, y'know, the more the merrier:72847-subscribe@zinester.com. To unsubscribe--please, please don't leave. I beg of you with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, cherries and whipped cream on top (no nuts though...yech!!): 72847-unsubscribe@zinester.com eNewsletter Description Page--y'know, in case you all of a sudden don't remember what this newsletter is all about. Go figure: http://subs.zinester.com/72847>/a Zinester.com is a project by AGAVA Software Company. Software development - as it has to be.

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