Character naming - part 1

Names help bring the characters to life and they bring certain prejudices. One must be careful with them! If you have two characters from the same small place and one is called Bliradella tifanreta and the other is Jack, then you have a problem and should proceed with care. You might be able to pull it off, but it's a lot of work.
Keep track of characters that have names that begin with the same letter. In one of my novels, I have Jaden, Jonah, Jinx, and Jaytur. Things tend to get confusing rather quickly. Your reader will have trouble keeping these characters separate. I am (slowly) working on rename Jaden and Jaytur. This, for me, anyway, is a subconscious thing. I don't go out and say "Oh, I want four male characters in this novel with names beginning with J." No.
And a bit of advice: Did the parent of your character(s) have a crystal ball so they could see what would happen in their future? No? Then please do NOT give them names that match their paths in life. The poor parent probably had very little idea what their children would do and so would not have given them special names.
And that's an end to part one of our segment on character naming!

Quote

"A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
-Thomas Mann

A what will never be a completed list of links.

I will get to posting what the people asked me to write about - later.
Through the years that I have been writing, I have found link after link that has inspired me. The list I have compiled off the top of my head is short, but will grow quickly.

1. Seventh Sanctum
2. Chaotic Shiny
3. Serendipity
4. Squid.org

This is just the beginning. I'm sure that, once I scour through all the e-mails I've sent people I'll find more writing related links.
Have a link? What do you think the comment box is for? **hint, hint**

Poll results.

The results are in!
Three people voted for "Too many to count!"
And one person voted for "1" and for "Too many to count."
Alright, so there are people besides me with far too many writing projects going - nice to know I'm not alone.

Next poll will be. . . . coming soon!
Thank you for voting!

A story and a point

Writing - you give it everything you have. Sometimes that's enough, sometimes it isn't.

When I was 11, I started on this story, it was my first attempt at writing, and it was the best thing i ever wrote - so I thought.

I look through it now, and there are a couple sections that I want to burn. The voice is awkward throughout most of it, characters make ridiculous mistakes and do things that don't really make sense - all for honor. As you get to the end, though, you begin to see it change. The voice becomes a little smoother, plot holes begin to mend, and it gets better.

And then I stopped writing it. I stopped writing.

Then I found inspiration, I began writing again. This time, the story was better. And it went on for a few months, then I dropped it. I had become very interested in one of the secondary characters, I began writing about her.

So many versions poured out of that decision, and not all of then were very good.

That characters name was Sorrow Fleetfoot, I am currently on my . . . umpteenth version, and enjoying every minute.

The point to this story? (Yes, there actually is a point to this story.)

Writing gets better the more experience you have, and the more you do it.

Quote of the day

"All you need is love"
~ John Lennon