This week: Character names and inspiration…

This week’s questions are brought to us by proud Texan, Jeanne McDonald, author of The Truth in Lies. If you arrived here courtesy of the lovely Collette Cameron, author of The Earl’s Enticement, I hope you will continue the entire Romance Writers Weekly hop.

How did you go about choosing the names for your characters? Sound. I have to like the sound of my heroine and hero’s names. For some reason I have an affinity to “J” sounds. I had a cat name Jasper, a dog named Jake, and picked Jace as the last name for my pseudonym.

Arriving at character names seems to differ from story to story. I tend to choose hero names from movie or TV characters. However, in my upcoming release, Hot as Blazes, I named the hero Ray, after someone from my past, because the initial concept of the novel was about coming home. The heroine’s brother is Bobby, after a friend who was like a brother to me.

For heroines, I usually pick strong non-gender specific names such as Jo, Peri, Jordan and the like. I chose Dani for a first name as my pen name after my grandfather I never knew.

Where did the inspiration for your current book come from? I live in a military community and totally appreciate and respect all who service our country. I recently finished a novel about a Navy SEAL and anticipate writing more in the military genre.

Currently, I’m working on a four peppers hot novella, tentatively titled, Game On! My area had a semi-pro football team a couple of years ago. I envisioned a player in town for the season looking for a fun romp. Of course he gets more than he bargains for with the heroine.

Most of my books tend to be from the hero’s point of view. Coming from a blue collar back ground, I enjoy writing about heroes who work with their hands and other body parts! 😉

What methods do you use to ensure you have no plot holes (journal, storyboard, outline, editor, etc.)? Even though I’m mostly a pantser, I run through the story in my head over and over while writing. Usually, I spot issues while mental rehashing. After that, I rely on my kick a$$ critique group: Carol, EJ, Georgie, Jenny and Pam. My last line of defense is the talented Laura K., a multi-published author, and friend who has taken me under her wing. All lovely ladies who rock!

That’s all for me today, but please continue on to Brenda Margriet and see how she chooses names for her characters. Brenda’s newest release, Chef d’Amour is due out in August.

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