Tag: writing a novel

4 Creative Ways To Name The Characters In Your Next Novel

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

 

Anyone can grab the baby name book off the bookshelf, or use any of the apps available, but I think there are more fun and creative ways to come up with character names. 

 

Start with the time period and country your book is set

If you’re writing from a book set in the United States in the 1980’s you are going to come up with very different names than if you’re writing about Japan in the 1800’s.  My name, Jennifer, was extremely popular in the late 1970’s, especially in the midwest, versus what’s popular name in baby names so make sure you keep these things in mind before you jump into books, apps, or your own imagination. 

 

Think about the main theme of your book

Let’s say you are writing a Young Adult romance novel with the theme of love conquers all.  I would use that word – love – and search for names that mean love.  Then I would brainstorm other words that make you think of love.  Romance, roses, chocolate and use those to help search for names. 

What chocolate brands are out there? Can they be used for last names? 

What rose varietals are there? Can they be used for last names?

 

Use movie and TV credits

Speaking of last names, one of my most fun tips is to use movie and TV credits to borrow/steal actual real names.  This works extremely well if you’re writing a story set in another country.  Find a movie on Netflix or Amazon from that country and use the credits to grab names.  Note: I would google the meaning just in case it comes up as something weird or contradictory to your book’s theme.   

Use Tarot cards

Who didn’t see this coming? I like to shuffle my deck, pull a single card, and concentrate on something small – like a river, a flower, or a city scape in the background – and just brainstorm all the possible names that come up for me.

For example, with a river, I might think of the character River Song from Doctor Who, who is played by the amazing Alex Kingston. Or my favorite flower is the Sunflower, so a nickname for my character might be Sunny.  City names were really popular for awhile so you might have an Austin or Brooklyn or London.

This can be used in many ways, so pull cards and have fun with this process!

 

Which one of these tips was your favorite? Which one are you going to try? I would love to know, so share in the comments below. 

And if you loved this, then I think you would especially like my free training – Novel Narrator: Creating Your Book’s Characters in 30 Minutes Using Tarot – which you can grab here.  

 

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Adding Depth To Characters

How To Add Depth To Your Characters

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Creating characters that make readers fall in love takes time and many, many layers of development.

If you’ve taken my free training, Novel Narrator, and used Tarot to create your characters then you have an amazing character but to take that character and add some depth, we need to do a few more things.

 

What is my motivation?

Yes, this is a terrible actor cliche, but it’s true! Your character needs something to motivate them to do things in your book.  What do they truly want and what do they need by the end of their arc? This is usually two different things too, which can be confusing.  Let’s say your character wants to find the murderer – that is what is motivating them to take on the case.  But what they need is to have closure around their own father’s murder from twenty years ago – that will help them grow and evolve.  

 

Flaws make for real humans

I know we don’t like to look at our own flaws, be we all have them. From little quirks to big things we would like to change (or maybe we love them and others wish we would change) we have character flaws. These help your fictional characters feel like actual humans, people that your readers can root for and feel connected to. I like to use Tarot cards to help me find these, but you can also look toward friends or family and just tweak it a little.  For example, say your friend is always late, like annoyingly so.  To change it up a bit, maybe your character can always be early.  What would that do to your novel and the people your character has to interact with?

 

Friends and Enemies

Another layer to add on to these characters we are creating is how they act around other people.  Do they have quirks or coping mechanisms when they are around their parents? Do they have friends that bring out things they would rather hide about themselves? Are they putting on masks around anyone?  We all tend to do this, but it can be tricky to see, but adding this element to our novels takes our characters from blah to holy crap, I totally relate!

 

Using Tarot

Like I teach in Novel Narrator, I love to use Tarot to help me with all these layers.  If you used 1-2 cards to create your character, get them out and place them on the table.  Then shuffle your deck and add 3 more cards to help you add depth and layers by assigning one card per issue above – you can choose which card goes with which layer.

Choose your card, grab your notebook or open your document and start writing down all the ideas you get.  Remember – look at the background and foreground, use the colors of the cards, and think about what happened right before and after the card’s images.

 

If you haven’t taken my free character creation training, sign up below!!

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There Is Power In Numbers

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

Why community is important, even if you are between writing projects

Writing can be lonely, and most of the time that’s exactly what we like about our chosen career, the solitude of talking to our imaginary friends.

But when those friends stop talking to us it’s helpful to have real life people, other writers, around to talk to us, offer advice, and provide feedback. This is why I believe that having a community of other writers is helpful, even if you are between writing projects.

I mean, are we ever truly not writing?

Even when I’m between projects – say my draft is with my editor and I don’t have time to start fully working on a second book – I’m still thinking about, dreaming about, and possibly planning that next book. We can say we are on a break all we want, our brains are usually pretty busy coming up with names, small details, or just getting excited about that next new shiny thing.

And having a community of like-minded writers, who understand the ups and downs of writing a full-length novel, non-fiction book, or scripts can be so vital during our down times to help motivate us, inspire us with their amazing projects, and let us remember why we started writing in the first place.

Yes, writing communities are very important when blocks pop up, but they can also be super important when things are going well to have that on-going, day to day support because writing can be lonely and knowing others are out there struggling to get words on the page each day with everything else going on in the world is the most amazing feeling.

You are not alone!

If this sounds like something you need in your writing life, join my newsletter today so you’ll be the first to know about my upcoming membership for writers where I’ll be hosting mini courses each month, co-writing sessions, Q&A calls, and so much more!

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Lessons I Learned Publishing My First Novel

Posted on by Jennifer Gregson

I thought I knew so much when I pushed publish on my first novel, but whoo boy was I wrong!   Here are five lessons that I learned during the self-publishing process that I went through with my very first novel. 

Negative reviews will hurt

My advice – find someone you trust to read the reviews for you and give you only the things that will help make your books better.  Sometimes, people give amazing constructive criticism in their reviews, but more often than not they are just petty, mean, and downright frustrating so it’s best not to read them. This is harder than it sounds, I know, but trust me….they hurt and they linger in your self-consciousness, cropping up when you go to write your next book.

You will feel different, but not that different

Yes, being a published author and having someone buy your book off Amazon or Barnes & Nobles feels amazing!!  You will feel accomplished, proud, and high on life, but there will still be dishes in the sink, taxes to pay, and fights with your spouse or kids.  And there is still another book to write. Feel the highs and don’t let real life diminish that shine, but just know – real life grabs you faster than you would think or hope.

Your next book won’t be magically easier to write

This might be hard to hear, but it’s true. You will understand your process more with each book you write, you will understand the publishing process more as you do it, and you will feel more confident overall but the actual sitting down, hands on keys, words on paper won’t be any easier.  Sorry.  You’ll still have to put in the time, make the effort to schedule in writing sessions, and scramble through murky middles and terrible endings – or is that just me?

Some promos might make you feel icky

I followed a bunch of advice online and gave a ton of copies of my book away for free thinking it would help me build my newsletter list, but all it did was make me feel depleted, depressed, and icky.  Read up on different promos, different companies and websites, and really plan out your launch with purpose – thinking a little bit about how you would like to feel during the whole process.  It was more important than I realized.

Audience building is a big factor in sales

I’m not saying I won’t ever give my books away for free, but I think it’s better to have that audience before you launch.  I didn’t really have that as I started Instagram a bit too late, and didn’t really know best practices for things like content creation and engagement online.  It’s best to build your audience online first, nurture those readers, and then publish your book.   

Even though I had lessons to learn, and bumps along the path, I’m so thankful I stuck with self-publishing and am extremely proud to call myself an Indie Author.  We learn by doing, by trying and learning and fixing and then by doing and trying all over again.  

Don’t let the fact that you might not know everything right away stop you from following your path and living your dreams.

If you’re a published author, what lessons did you learn along the way? And if you haven’t published yet, what above is making you rethink some things now before you start? I would love to know.

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