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[rebellious_one]

Just wondering how you guys come up with the names of your characters, or names of your stories.

[MonkeyAbu]

Well, I am only focusing on pretty much one story right now and that is "If Tomorrow Never Comes". I came up with the idea for the story back in early '07, before Brian and I moved back to Branson from J-ville, Illinois. I honestly don't remember if I had the title chosen from the beginning, but I remember sitting in the recliner once we had moved back and I was finishing up the first chapter and listening to Garth Brooks' - "If Tomorrow Never Comes". So that song has been the main inspiration for the story.

[nicksgal]

I pick names I like. lol I used to have them descirbe the characters, but then the names come out as awkward or not common names... Stories, it's usually based on what the story is about. Pandora's Box... It's a pretty simple name. lol

[alota_cookin]

I guess I'll start with Life According to Baylee. I happen to have a 12 yr old step daughter and she thinks she is ALWAYS right! when she argues that she is right about something that she is way off on (like when she argues that women are only pregnant for 8 months) I shake my head, roll my eyes and say, "AH! Life according to Kirsten." 

So when I started writting the story, it seemed to fit because of Baylee's attitude issues and the way he argued about EVERYTHING. And I thought it had a nice 'ring' to it. 

Protection was named becuase NIck is in the WPP...THAT wasn't brain surgery, lol.


As for characters...i t depends. Sometimes, if the character reminds me a lot of someone I know, I will name the character after that person. Other times, I just look in my baby names book.(I knew I kept it for a reason) roflmao. Lame, I know. but I try to stay away from the names that I think are over used or ones I have used in other stories.

[mare]

Sad to say but I pick names I love otherwise i'll forget everyone's names lol

[AJsKellyMouse]

I don't know how I come up with the story names.  It's been quite a while since I've titled a story, I don't have any titles for any of the new projects I am currently procrastinatin g.  I believe for one of my stories (that is not yet posted, it's my next big re-write if I ever finish this one) got it's title because it was something that the two main characters said to each other.  I'm not so great at giving stories titles.

As for my characters...s ome characters I just get a name that pops into my head, and it sticks.  I have a baby name book as well.  When I'm bored I will go through and list names that I like or that pop out to me, and if I need a character name I will often pull from the list, fitting the name to the character.

[mare]

Ooh I never answered the story names. Sometimes a name will pop into my head and then i'll create a story around it. That's what I did for Thirteenth Step and Shadow Woods lol

[RokofAges75]

Sometimes names just come to me, and sometimes I spend forever agonizing over them.  With Broken, for example, the title was always there... it was just perfect... but I debated over Claire's name for days.  I had a short list of names for her that I eventually weeded down and settled on Claire.

[rebellious_one]

How about last names?!

[RokofAges75]

I don't usually put as much thought into last names; I just pick something that sounds good or fits the character.

[Sakabelle]

Well.... In Pieces was named because that's the song I was listening to when I came up with the idea, and it actually ended up fitting really well!  Ashleigh Dane got her name because I needed her to have some sort of preppy girly cheerleader sterotype name.. and her first name just popped into my head.  Dane was because I was listening to Dane Cook (Love him!) and I thought, hey, good last name!  Ashleigh's friend Joey is actually named after someone I know in real life, who I see once a year and is super sweet.    I thought My Happy Ending was a good sounded title just because it was Ashleigh's dream when she was a teenager was to live happily ever after with Nick, so I thought that was fitting.  Also, again the song was very fitting for the story.

Left and Leaving is an AWESOME song by the Weakerthans about new beginnings and having trouble leaving things behind.  Also, it's got a couple of Backstreet anecdotes so yeah.  It seemed like a good choice hehe.  Camille got her name from a girl I know (who has the exact opposite personality as Camille in the story) and she got her last name (Northam) from another girl I know.  I just thought it sounded good *shrugs*

[MellzBellz]

I usually come up with my story titles from songs or parts of songs. I like using obscure parts of song lyrics for example Under My Skin, A Little Taste of Sin, Quarter Life Crisis... My next story is going to be When My World Is Crashing. So that's what I do.

As far as naming characters it depends. I pick names like... Names of friends... Names that just fit the character. Sometimes they just come to me. Last names are more difficult. I try to fit something that sounds good together. I try to use pretty generic names too. I mean the only real last name stories I have is Alyssa's maiden name is Martinelli. I wanted something Italian sounding that wasn't too common. Yes, she's named after the sparkling cider lol. Her married name Robinson was kind of a joke because Sean is two years younger than her so she's like a cougar. Get it? Mrs. Robinson? Lol Maybe its not that funny... But whatever works!

[Rose]

Admitedly mine typically come from song lyrics...altho ugh Born To Be lmao comes from a TV show BSB did, but it fits...cause no matter what reality..Nick is born to be what he was meant to...which will eventually come to light. Just Another Day is from a Jesse McCartney song, Glitz & Glamour is cause thats what Hollywood is... Rehab is from the Rhianna song. So songs very much inspire my titles but I try to make mine more subtle. Divisions of Reality comes from the prophecy that defines that story. It's one of the titles that didn't come from some other source lol.

Character names I really think about. I develop the personality first and then pick a first name to fit. Cally from JAD...plain wrapper girl, so she got a Mary Sue-ish name lol as a joke to myself...since I have a Mary Sue name too lol. Plus it's to contradict it since she's flawed yet not anti-sue.  Kayden from rehab, I wanted something semi-tomboyish but not completely. Tawny...well she's in this surreal world so I wanted a more...nature oriented sounding name but nothing too crazy. Last names are usually whatever sounds good...though in Tawny's case...her name is of gypsy origin to suit her clothing style.

[cabybakes]

I usually pick names I just like - some are of people I actually know, some aren't. 

Quinn is one of my favorite girl names, too bad my husband hates it.  One of my best friends has a little boy named Mason and I love that name too.  Courtney was one of my best friends from childhood, Oliver was one of my best friend's from high school's last name. I like the names Lauren and Kate.  Jake was my high school sweetheart, Jack is one of my favorite boy names..the list goes on!

What I am saying is it is random...there is no method to my madness!

[honey]

aww jack is one of my faves too. but my little girl is Jack. not my boy.