Wednesday, 9 July 2025

All in a name

 Most fiction authors will confirm that choosing the right name for a character is vital. It's beyond any logical explanation, but if you don't have the names right for your protagonists then the whole book can feel wrong. I have a book idea that is sort of brewing, but the name I wanted for my heroine has been used by a friend in a similar style book. The books won't in the end be anything like each other, but that name is out of bounds and until I can find another my book is, sadly, going nowhere. Writers are weird - but you already know that. 

As a reader, a name that feels old fashioned can seriously damage my enjoyment of a book. But fashions change - a couple of decades ago a character named Wilf (Wilfred) or Ava for a child or a teenager would have suggested to me that the author was elderly and not up to speed with current trends. Now it is all turned around and the old names are fashionable again. Even so, it's not all old names. I don't think Gladys has had a revival yet. 

Finding the name is therefore a small but vital piece of research. Googling popular names for a specific year can be a starting point. Writers of historicals of my acquaintance find a walk around a cemetery can be very useful. Baby name books, newspapers stories, eavesdropping on the bus - they are all sources of inspiration. Now you can use name generators!

So, that's the choice. But what about what the name says.  The idea for this post came when I read yet another book where the villainess was called Yvonne. Alright, I don't spell it that way, but I would like to know why the traditional spelling of my name always has to be the nasty girlfriend, vindictive ex or village battle axe. Huh - maybe you shouldn't answer that. 

Short names are popular. John or Jack is a stalwart for a hero. Shakespeare can give you the unusual - Hero, Orlando, Bianca. The Bible is always reliable for hero names. Millionaires are often foreign and exotic  - Niccolo, Bruno, Raphael. Advice suggests names should not be difficult to pronounce - although I'm not sure where that leaves some of the inventions I've read in fantasy novels. Using names that are too similar is a no-no, and I have been picked up for using names with the same initial letter! I've googled and there is a vast amount of advice out there on choosing names if you need it  But I'm still wondering why Yvonne gets such a bad press.

Wednesday, 2 July 2025

Travel by the book

 At this time of the year newspapers and magazines are making a feature of books to take on holiday with you. Reading on the beach or by the pool - or on deck - is a well established thing. But a book doesn't have to be something that accompanies you on your journey - it can be the journey. Escape  by book is possible even if actual travelling isn't, for reasons of money or circumstance. And it does not have to be just places - time travel is also totally achievable. All you need is the book.

In the last few weeks I have been to the Lake District (Sarah Morgan's A Secret Escape), a small town in Maine (Melinda Leigh's Midnight Exposure), Norfolk (Kate Hardy's The Body at the Vineyard), Provence (Veronica Henry's One Night at the Chateau)  and Siena (T A Williams' Murder in Siena). I've travelled back in time to attend the Congress of Vienna (Joanna Maitland's His Reluctant Mistress), and to Yorkshire  in the 1990s (Stuart Pawson's Chill Factor.) I've been to a couple of places that don't actually exist  - a invented Welsh Village (Liz Davies's The Ticklemore Treasure Trove) and a world where even the heroine has no idea where she is (Kate Johnson's The Promised Queen).  I enjoyed them all.  

Looking at the list, you can see I have catholic tastes. Romance, romantic suspense, police procedural crime, cosy crime/amateur sleuth, historical romance and romantacy. Several of the books  were written by friends, some of them I stumbled on by happy accident. The majority were part of a series, or linked titles, which reinforces the view of publishers that readers like series. Some I paid for, some were part of my Kindle Unlimited subscription - paid for, but not by direct hard cash!  That has been a good investment. I'm a fast reader and I read a lot. I've sampled things I would not have tried if I'd had to buy them, or carry them home from the library, with some enjoyable results. Also some complete turkeys, but that's life. 

I was wondering if there was a common theme - I enjoy reading crime. I like puzzles and mystery and a bit of excitement, but I certainly like to have at least an element of romance - and a positive ending. Fully fledged crime readers do not like romance messing up their crime. I have been told that often. I was amused to read a review of Stuart Pawson complaining about this, when to me hero Charlie's romantic failures were only an element of the story. And they were failures. Poor Charlie! They would not like mine! Romantic suspense is my favourite genre, which is why I write it, but it is not the only thing I read. Location is important. I like scenery and I love food. TA Williams is especially good for that. Lots of delectable Italian grub. Many of the books have animals in them, also enjoyable. I think there might be a post in the future on elements that make a romantic/cosy crime.  I was thinking too that the books divide between real life situations - contemporary or historical - which involve research and those with imagined settings which require world building. They all take the reader on a journey. Which is what reading is all about.