Mi Nombre Es

Maybe it was the affect of the tail end of the sixties, or maybe it was the weirdness of being strangers in a strange land, but my parents almost named my older sister Rocco. Disappointed that she was not a boy and grudgingly accepting that Rocco was not an appropriate name for a girl-child, they named her Anamari after a character in an opera.

Five year’s later they were ready to try again. This being before the time of ultrasound they hoped they’d hit XY paydirt. I was born female, two months early and just under two pounds. In 1972 this was all bad news. I imagine, though I never asked them, that they contemplated naming me Rocco anyway. There was some discussion that I might not survive, so they could name me Rocco and maybe, if the third child was the charm, recycle the name for him. Everyone agrees I was ugly. My mother still remembers that my hands were so small and thin that she could hold them up to the light and see through my skin to all the veins. Did my dad think that naming me Rocco might strengthen me to fight for my life? Did my mom think that St. Peter would look at the girl baby named Rocco and find it funny – not in a good way? I don’t think they named me for quite a few days and when they did, I was named after my father’s absent father. Read into that what you will.

Names have power. Names have histories and meanings and layers. Names ARE stories. I believe, fervently, in the power of names, particular in making inanimate characters alive.

BUT. I have trouble naming my characters. When I first get an idea for a story and start to build it, either in my mind or in notes, it’s always ‘woman, girl, boy, man,’ as if giving the character a name in those early stages is too restrictive, asking too much of a as yet fragile structure. I’ve tried giving my characters ‘placeholder’ names and that is worse. So for now, for some of the stories I have yet to tackle head on, it’s ‘the sisters’ ‘the man who was the mayor’ ‘the storyteller’. It can get a little confusing, but that’s what works for me right now.

What works for you? How important is having the right character name while writing the first draft? Have you ever gone on to the second draft and realized a name is all wrong?

We're Not Candy - Even Though We Look So Fine and Dandy

Completely flying by seat o' my pants with this writer's group thing, our first meeting is January 16 and I don't really have game plan yet. It almost seems excessive to start one in this day and age when there seems to be a group for everything from stamp lickers to lint collectors. All I can say, Headmistress, is that I did try to find an existing group to belong to and it just didn't seem to exist. Sorry, I've got 'headmistress' and repressive boarding school atmosphere on the brain as that's where I'm revising in my current ms.

I'll be honest, I'm a little frightened of my WIP. It's just been so much easier to write than my first book (which is still waiting to be rescued, in beautiful little broken pieces, under my desk) that I'm waiting for the disaster to hit. The huge plot hole or the hero turing out to be a complete douche bag. I definitely hit a bump in sections two and three, where the story gets more complicated, but still, it seems so real to me, the world so accessible. That kind of ease is obviously telling me that something is wrong. My husband says I'm being ridiculous, it's a great story and I'm just being negative. OKAY. He actually only said the 'great story' part, I'm just imagining the other things because I'm so negative. Am I the only one who finds it hard to deal with when things are going well? I'm trying not to jinx it, trying to enjoy it, but I keep looking up waiting for the other Doc Marten to drop and hit me in the head.

PS. Title of this post has nothing to do with this post. Have just had that song from that 80's drug PSA stuck in my head all day.