Character names. They are a pretty important part of the average novel, but they can be a bit of a challenge in their own right. Just how much of a challenge, I’ve been reminded of these last few weeks as I’ve worked on building out my new project.

As with all other aspects of my writing, I usually prefer to let my subconscious dream up names for new characters in my stories. For one thing, it certainly feels like a lot less effort than the alternative. I do pretty well with this approach, filtering out the many I don’t like, as I often find a handful of options will pop into my head all at once. There are times, every once in a while, when nothing comes to me, but then all I do is remain patient and get back to it the next day.

With my new, need to plan everything in advance, project this approach isn’t really viable. Instead, I’ve been looking around at the books on my shelves and taking note of people’s names in sports reports and the like. This works here and there, but I find it much more difficult this way coming up with names I like. It feels forced and, on this occasion, I’m less than enthusiastic with some of the names I have so far. I suspect these will get changed before the story is considered done.

Ah, ’tis another challenge for me with this latest project and a reminder of the power of the subconscious mind.

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