This isn't the first time I've been dumbstruck by this idea. Authors talk about things like this and occasionally I see the comments, but if it's been a while between postings, I forget.
You see, I do not get to name my characters. They let me know what their names are.
I don't always like their names. I had one character who used subterfuge. He said to just use the name as a placeholder for now. He'd give me a name I liked later. He lied to me. The name I didn't like? It's still his name. (This is an unpublished book that I'd still like to finish some day. It did go out on proposal, but didn't sell.)
Most often, though, the characters just show up in my brain and tell me to browse through name books or name websites until they say that's it!
That happened to me on Friday night. I had a few characters show up on Thursday night--enough heroes for a trilogy--and Friday they had me browsing name sites. One of them has a name that start with a T. I wrote down the one I thought it was and it didn't feel right. Even as I worked on the other guys, I kept looking back at that hero's name. Turns out I was close, but it was Tyler, not Tucker. I told him I already have a character named Tyler. His response? Too bad.
I've had a heroine who announced her presence by saying her name. Mika. And I've had another heroine that made me search for weeks and weeks and weeks until I finally found her name. Ryne. This is normally a boy's name which is why I didn't find it after all the time I spent looking. I finally had a book that listed it in the girls' section and she jumped on it.
So with this history, I sometimes forget that there are authors who get to choose their characters' names. But for all the complaining I do, I'd much rather have things the way they happen for me. I don't have to worry about reusing a character's name because they just don't let me choose.
