A Bunch of Characters

I don't know how other authors do it, but my characters come to me sort of nameless and shapeless at first.  As they begin to interact with others, they begin developing personalities and physical characteristics.  The last thing they usually get is a name.  Usually a name will "come to me" so to speak.  Sometimes I love the name and sometimes I have a moment where I want to say "Really?  That's their name?"  It's actually rather odd.  You would think that I have more control, but somehow the characters almost seem to name themselves.

Georgia was a character that named herself.  It wasn't really a decision on my part.  That just seemed to be her name.  It wasn't until I began to write her story that I realized why that was her name.  While I was writing I actually thought, "Oh!  That's why her name is Georgia!"  It wasn't planned ahead of time.  I don't know why it sometimes happens that way, but I always think it's cool when it does occur like that.  It feels as if they are more alive that way because it's almost as if I'm learning about them as I go.

When that happens, it's only after they have a name that I write them into the story.  Sometimes, as I'm writing, a character comes in that I suddenly have to name.  In that case, it's usually the name that first comes to mind.  I've only had a couple times when that name ended up changing because it didn't seem to fit.

Someday I'd like to write a book where the names mean something.  I read a series one time where I liked the main character's name well enough that I had to look up it's meaning, and it fit the character so well that I ended up looking up several more characters names to find that their name meanings fit perfectly with their characters as well.  I think it would be fun to write a book where the characters have names that are relevant to their personalities or positions.  I enjoy researching names and meanings so I think I could have a good time with that.

For now though, my KW Consulting Series characters have been naming themselves and it seems to be a system that is working.  If you haven't read book one yet, you can click on the link below to purchase it and if you have read it, I'm hoping that book two will be available this fall.

Best Laid Plans by Courtney Lyman

Father's Day

There is a book called The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.  In his book Gary Chapman says that there are five love languages and that everyone has one that is their specific love language and they might have a secondary one as well.  His idea is that when we don't feel loved in a relationship it's because we may be speaking different languages.  According to him, the five love languages are physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, gift giving, and acts of service.  These languages can affect any relationship.  It's not solely in for marital relations.

One of my love languages is words of affirmation.  A kind word, an encouraging word can put me in a glow that can last for days.  I'm pretty sure that my dad also has words of affirmation as one of his.  He has probably encouraged me verbally through the entire writing process more than anyone.  When I first brought up that I was writing a book, my dad talked about "when" my book would be published, not "if".  He's always been positive that my book will do well and that I would succeed as an author.  I love that he never tried to convince me to try something less risky.  He never once intimated that I might fail.  I love that about my dad.

Another thing I love about my dad is that he actually read my book.  I wrote a romance novel.  That is not my dad's "thing".  He reads a lot, but he enjoys histories, biographies and thrillers.  Romance is definitely not what he wants to read.  Yet he bought my book and read the whole thing.  I would have understood if he hadn't read it, but I appreciate that he did.  Again, he only had positive, uplifting words for me afterwards.  

My dad has been such a support for me.  He encourages me when I get discouraged.  Most of all, he believes in me - or I should say, he believes that God can work in me.  He always reminds me that God is in control of my situation and that my future is in His hands.  I have been blessed with a wonderful father!  I love you, Dad!  Thank you for your constant faith in me!  Happy Father's Day!

Best Laid Plans by Courtney Lyman

Rejected!

There is a certain risk of rejection in being an author.  In traditional publishing I think you pretty much need to accept that you will be rejected tons of times before you will receive an acceptance.  I got to avoid that part of publishing.  I didn't send out my manuscript to every publisher I could think of only to have it sent back repeatedly with varying degrees of harshness in the letters accompanying it.  I just went ahead and published it myself.

I did send it to a writing competition before deciding to self-publish.  It was through Women of Faith and Westbow Publishing.  I did not make the top thirty and I have no idea how far under the top thirty I was.  I choose to believe that it just wasn't the type of book they were looking for and not for any other reason.  Wishful thinking, I know, but I'm fairly certain that I would never have taken the next step if I hadn't decided that was the reason.

Putting the book on Kindle, I was concerned about people not being interested or people writing negative reviews.  What I didn't know is that when someone returns it, I can see that.  When you buy a Kindle book you have a short window of time to say that it was a mistake and send it back.  When I look at my sales report it has a column for books sold, books returned and net books sold.  It's amazing how difficult it is not to take it personally when a book is returned.  There's always a feeling that they quickly read the first chapter or two and then decided that it wasn't good enough.  Again, I lie to myself and choose to believe that they had intended to buy another book called "Best Laid Plans" (because there are a million books with that title) and bought mine by mistake.

I've actually been rather blessed by this as well.  It's not often that I have a book returned.  I think maybe in the nine months it's been available, I may have had eight to ten books returned.  Yet each one sort of makes you wonder.  I have to remind myself that there have been lots more who haven't returned my book and be thankful for those.

On a side note, I've had a bit of a break from writing lately.  We were on vacation for a couple of weeks and last week was just really busy.  Today I finally got to sit down and write again.  It was so nice to get back to Georgia's story.  I have a feeling that my climax is coming soon!  I'm very excited about how this story is developing.  I'm hoping that I can have it available by September - my self-imposed deadline.

Best Laid Plans by Courtney Lyman