Anons are rude, but you know what can be ruder? Trying to figure out names for your gosh darn characters. What's your method of naming characters? Scouring baby name websites? Going for what sounds right, or name meanings (or combos there of)?
I actually also answer this in my latest author interview!
Excerpt:
Q: How do you choose your characters’ names?
A: The way you might name a beloved Sim in the Sims games. I either go to baby names dot com and search up name meanings for two hours or I hit “randomize” and their name is “Smek” for the rest of the story.
You can see this in my published short story collection actually. I have a mermaid named “Paria” which is a real-world inland sea and also sounds like the word “pariah.” Both of these things represent how she is trapped in a zoo, like a sea might be trapped inland, and how she is lonely and otherized in this world.
On the other hand, I also have a princess called “Tuck” in a different story. I wanted there to be a significant difference between her given name and the name she actually goes by in order to represent her disconnect from her royal identity. As in, her nickname would be strange and tomboyish, and her given name would be classical and formal. However, the nickname “Tuck” was a placeholder up until I couldn’t imagine calling her anything else. In short, long live Princess Smek.
