On naming characters

from Yahoo! Answers

Any suggestions on female character name for my novel?

Romance/Sci Fi Novel
What are some suggestions for a nice female name in a romance novel? I do not want to be too generic, and I would like something that an audience will find pleasant.
 
Character Description: 19, independent, shy, naturally attractive, goal-oriented


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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Jonnie Comet
 

Try baby-name guides, many of which are on the Web.  Given a few names' meanings you can decide how you want her to be called.

A problem of this kind is like a band searching for a name for their act.   To my mind, the name of the band always comes first, like a kind of thematic idea; it suggests the style of music, the style of performance, the number of instruments and even the personalities of the players.  Without a name, a band has no clue.

I think a character is much the same way.  When you think of a character, you think of his name first; then you come to 'know' the person almost as though he were a *real* person you have met and are getting to know.   I tend to make use of astrological signs, ethnic background, placement in family (1st child, youngest child etc.), lefthandedness/righthandedness, age, day of the week when born ('Monday's child is fair of face', etc.), religion and other factors to define a character.  Knowing the meaning of the character's name is just one more part of that.

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How long does it take to become a good writer?

from Yahoo! Answers--

How long does it take to become a good writer?

My writing skills suck, and that's putting it nicely. I was wondering how long it takes to become a good writer and how to become a really good writer?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Jonnie Comet

It takes decades.

Start by reading.  Read all the literature you can.  Enjoy and understand the stories; but pay attention to the authors' craft-- how they use the language, how they describe things, how they set up the plot and provide suspense, and so on.  There is nothing wrong with sort of copying another author's style, at least when you are getting started.  Many people have begun this way.  I wrote Love Me Do as a modern (1970s) take on The Great Gatsby.  My style is/was very different from Fitzgerald's; but even when I teach Gatsby in the classroom today I am sort of amazed at myself for having understood (and sort of copied) his book so well... when I was 17.  And Love Me Do is not at all a bad book.

The second thing, as you begin to read a lot, is to try to discern good writing from bad.  Avoid Nicholas Sparks and Stephanie Meyer.  They tell great stories but their craft is not worth emulating.  They write after their audience-- 8th-year girls.  Move on from that. Read Vonnegut, Rand, Delterfield, Trollope. Explore stuff you never thought you would like. Again, study craft. 

Sting, the bass player for The Police, once said, 'Whenever I run out of song ideas I go back to my craft.'  He sits and plays the bass for hours on end, for days on end. And we thought this guy was good; and still he practises.  Why? --because there is truth in the adage that one learns well by doing.   So, do.  Write everything and anything that comes into your mind.   Read, think of something, write that down.  Critique films, TV, the books you read-- decide what is bad and good about each.  Criticise your own writing from days/months/years ago.   Improve it.  This is not playing for an audience; it is practice.  But it's the only way you can grow.  To avoid attempts, even when they (will) end in failure, is to choose to not improve.  You can't pitch a ball till you try to do it.   So, try.  Fail.  Learn.  Try again.  Fail again.   Learn more.  And repeat. 

As you write, go back to the books you liked, read alternate passages, and compare them.  Is your grammar/mechanics/spelling/usage equivalent to that guy's?  If not, why not?   Evaluate and improve.  This is called editing.   It's been said that there are no great writers; there are only diligent editors.  All writers are editors before they are 'famous published authors'. Get out of your head the idea that the first endeavour is the purest, the sweetest, the most valuable because it's so pure and sweet and original.  That's Romantic; and whatever they write, no good writers are purely Romantic.   They believe in hard work-- and that lies in editing, revising, critiquing, really looking judiciously at what they have written. There is nothing accidental or innocent or 'pure' about it.  All art, including literature, must be deliberate.  It's what makes it 'art' (artifice: that which Man creates).

During the editing process, I take my work in a 3-ring binder to the beach.  (It's where I live.)   I sit there reading like it's someone else's work, like it's from a student or someone, with a blue pen in hand, and truly beat up the whole text.  'Stop repeating,' I write.   'Delete this,' I write.  'What idiot wrote this?' I write.  I put myself into the mindset of the reader.  Then I fix it so 'he' will like it (even when it's just me). It's all about the reader.   If you don't serve the reader, why are you writing?  You write to be read-- that is the definition of an author.  So think of how it reads when you read it.  If it rots, fix it.   That's your job.

I'm sorry for preaching at you but there is really no easy way to do this without just doing it.  There is no app for your iPhone that you can buy and install and *become* a good writer.  You have to just start doing it, like riding a skateboard.   And you will fall on your bottom and become injured-- in this case, in your ego-- and you deserve to get slapped about a bit by it and then you will learn.  And you will go at it again, and again.  And then you will have succeeded, because you will have succeeded.  And no-one can ever take that from you.

There are plenty of easier things to do.  You could sell flowers in a shop.  You could flip burgers at McDonald's.  You could deliver newspapers (does anyone still do that?).  But you want to write.  So what are you reading this drivel for?  Start writing. 

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Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

I thank you for giving your time to help me and help me realize that it's not going to be an easy process, more like a difficult one. This was a good answer, thank you.

This question about "How long does it tak… " was originally asked on Yahoo! Answers United Kingdom

  

Jonnie Comet on writing & novels

from a PR flyer, 12 September 2011--

Who, or what, is a Jonnie Comet?

One of my professors once asked me this, seeing it on some piece of text, and even some of my students have been stumped by it, which I suppose was part of the intention. Actually the name was a suggestion by my brother Rino for the name of a new band in 1978 or 1979. I thought it sounded too 1950s and rejected it out of hand.

Sometime after that I altered the spelling to appear androgynous and created an on-stage persona, some cross between Luke Skywalker and Robin Hood, a naïve though effective futuristic do-gooder featured in the songs of the Archer In The Wood and Shoot For The Stars LP projects.  By the end of the 1980s I had gone to work for corporate America and made something of a name for myself in a very specific industry; and so, when it came time to hawk Love Me Do to publishers, I chose to retain my old band’s name as a nom de plume to keep the two career paths from converging.   In each discrete circle, in order to maintain the separation, I do not mention the other name except, if it comes up, as a third-person entity.

When did you first become interested in writing?

As a child I read copiously, early and well-- in kindergarten the teacher used to have me bring in books, sit me on a table and have me read to the class since no-one else could read at kindergarten in those days. I was two or three reading levels ahead by the time I started 7th year. In critical-writing assignments I was an original voice that most teachers didn’t know what to do with. If they were mere pedants they would nitpick my grammar and spelling; if they had any sort of vision as educators they got used to just giving me an A if it had my name on top of it.

The earliest original story I can remember writing was in 5th year when a friend suckered me into doing a standup comedy routine for the class (not for an assignment, but just because) and gave me the job of writing copy for a mock news report (like a 5th-year version of SNL’s ‘Weekend Update’!). By the time I was 15 I was into the habit of writing down really cool dreams I had; one of them actually became the core of Love Me Do.

What did you do before writing novels?

I have written fiction with the aim of developing novels since I was about 15. But throughout my adult life I really have worked as a draughtsman, a liquor salesman, a boatbuilder, a delivery skipper, a private tutor, a warehouseman, a janitor, a carpenter, a skateboard assembler, a surfboard shaper, a purchasing agent, a designer of yacht hardware, a bookshop clerk, a teacher of secondary English, and of course as a working songwriter, producer and musician with a variety of outfits before and after The Jonnie Comet Band in the early 1980s.

What experiences have you had that you believe contribute to your voice as a writer?

At the age of 19 I found myself dispensing advice to younger friends (who were mostly girls, essentially groupies of the band) in Surf City. I cannot say that I had any more knowledge than they did about their personal social-life matters; but they trusted me enough to consult me with them and I did my best to rely on common sense, moral propriety and good will in helping them through them. The experience taught me two things: that I cared about people, especially young and impressionable ones, and that I had some skill as a communicator of concepts and ideals.

This sensitivity for the whole prospect of being a teenager was further nurtured when I began teaching secondary school and discovered I had students who often took me into their confidence with issues they would not mention to their own parents. They trusted in my guidance because they already knew for sure that I was a staunchly moral adult who knew how to listen and truly cared. I have always regarded their faith in me as a sort of sacred trust and a very high honour; and I like to believe I have been of great comfort to them all.

I realised that the reason I wanted to teach school was the same as the reason I wanted to be a rock-and-roll star: because I believed I had a message of honesty, decency and unconditional love to convey to other people. If I did not make much money in this pursuit, I did gain some peace of mind that having followed a course of virtue I may have helped people be happier and healthier along the way.

Aside from my worldly experiences in work and play I think this getting to know myself and what made me tick as a person is the crucial key to the relevance and uniqueness of Jonnie Comet’s voice as a writer.

What do you think is the most important feature of any novel?

All good stories are about characters. The definition of a ‘character’ can be very broad; good books have been written about animals (The Bear), computers (2001), or places (Ringworld). But what we look for is the development of some entity with whom we can feel empathy. Even when stories are inherently plot-driven, such as those Clancy writes, there are still people within them to be affected by, and to affect, the course of the events. When we recognise the humanity within the characters, we put ourselves in their places, feel what they feel, enter their struggles and cheer for their successes. We then realise that it’s been the book that does this to us, that gives us this gift; and that’s a book we consider a success at having entertained, enlightened and enlivened us. It's what I hope people will see in [Deirdre, the Wanderer].

What do you think makes a story worth reading?

Every ‘good’ story has some combination of good characters, good plot, and good style-- including good mechanical use of the language. Details are well-researched and sensibly presented.   There is a balance between narrative and dialogue-- some things are better told through action and some through the characters themselves.  Most of all the story needs a voice.  A first-person narrator should be engaging, inviting and then keeping us in the story. I like to think Deirdre is one of these-- you will read the story because she’s the one telling it. But a third-person ‘voice’ can be just as engaging, a character in itself that keeps our interest.  My favourite ‘voices’ come from 18th-C authors such as Henry Fielding and Ann Radcliffe; but that’s my taste and others will have other preferences.

Ultimately a good ‘story’ needs a good message, some theme to leave us with when it’s come to the end. This is vital, sort of the raison d’etre of the whole book. Absent this, we will wonder what we were supposed to have got out of it; its worth will have seemed purely superficial.

In your opinion what makes a book a work of ‘literature’?

All literature must have at its core this two-part rationale: to educate and to entertain. In no small part the proportion of these two determines the style and genre. For example all good lectures and sermons are literature, because they must do both, perhaps more so to educate than to entertain. Comedy sketches are literature but may be in the reverse proportion. By this definition straight news reporting is not literature; its purpose, though to be interesting, is not to entertain but to inform. Conversely a story with no underlying educative message is only fluff.

The worth of a given book as literature depends on its author’s management of this proportion.  DTW is literature that entertains the reader with a clever story most engagingly told; but beyond that it is a lesson in the necessity of having to face negative circumstances of your own making. The reader is subtly cautioned throughout that an exciting concept such as striking out on your own might finish up being fraught with yet-unforeseen difficulties, which, perhaps due to pride or naïveté, no teenager ever wants to admit could actually exist, let alone befall her personally.

Is it true you live on a boat?

In season my home base is my sailboat. It is not big but it is an extension of both my need for limitless freedom and my need for a cosy cave to curl up in. In the off-season (or when it just gets too cold, rainy, or otherwise awkward) I will crash on friends or family. For some reason they tolerate me. Though by nature I am a ‘free spirit’, I have often found myself tied-down by circumstances and so the writing of Deirdre, the Wanderer has been a catharsis for me, a way of living vicariously through a fictional narrative-- the same impression I hope readers get from the book.

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Independent reviews of 'Deirdre, the Wanderer' by younger readers

   as contributed to Internet discussion groups

edited by Colin Bunge

These compositions were gleaned from an Internet site featuring actual teens providing critical reviews of novels that are ostensibly aimed at teenaged audiences.  [Note: the reviews here reproduced were voluntarily submitted by readers who chose, read and reviewed the book of their own volition.  Neither the Publisher nor Author specifically recommends Deirdre, the Wanderer for any particular age of reader and will here reiterate the caution on the back cover: 'This book contains mature themes.']

  As the book features a narrator of this age the Publisher found it interesting to see how realistic or how interesting high-school students considered the character, the writing style, and the basic plot.  The site provided a reviewer with a brief description of each book as well as any press releases then available and then asked the reviewer to encompass responses to a few general questions in an essay format.

For inclusion here, the texts were edited for only obvious mechanical errors; however it should be noted that the calibre of thinking and expression of views in these reviews favourably impressed the Publisher and Author.  The reviews chosen for the (forthcoming) companion volume are listed in chronological order as they were published on the site and appear only coincidentally in descending age order of the reviewers.  The reader may also find it interesting that no teens were identified as male in contributing reviews of Deirdre, the Wanderer during the period it was listed on the site (just prior to publication of the third edition).

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Review by Cindy F--, age 16-1/2 / grade 11, New Jersey, USA

18 Sep 2010

Deirdre, the Wanderer is an awesome story of a 15-year-old girl who runs away from home and tries to survive in the real world.  By hitchhiking, sailing, and telling a few ‘white lies’ she manages to get to the Bahamas where she believes all her problems will be over.  But she runs into many kinds of abuse, from being sexually harassed and fired from jobs and having to leave places she thought would be home.  Along the way she manages to make friends and most of all to survive.

The best part of reading this book was in the way Deirdre always faces her problems with optimism and especially with respect for other people.  She is never rude or nasty to anyone even when other people are nasty to her.  For that reason she is a role model for anyone who believes that life is too hard and they should just give up or try something easier.  Nothing that Deirdre tries is very easy but she always works through it, and so she gets to travel to some wonderful exotic places and learn how to live on her own.

The most awkward parts of the book were some of the lesbian scenes.  The first few times it’s obvious she is forced into it.  The next time, with Emily, she actually chooses to fool around with a married woman.  The last time it is with Sandy, who is a friend she just happens to fall in love with.  At times the book is very graphic and uncomfortable to read.  But, especially in the parts with Sandy, it is also very romantic and sweet.  I am not a lesbian but it’s obvious Sandy and Deirdre care very much for each other and you really do want them to stay together at the end, even just as friends.

The book is mostly very well written, especially the dialogue and the descriptions of sailing in the oceans and the surrounding environment.  The writer obviously knows what he is talking about and it adds to the interesting quality of the story.  There are a few places where it is too slow-moving but in other places, like when she tells Johnnie off at the restaurant, when she is living on the deserted island, and when she is dancing in the go-go place, it is very interesting and you can’t wait to see how it turns out so you will tend to read faster.

I enjoyed this book very much because it made me want to run away, just for a little while, just so I could see the Bahamas and go to warm exotic places.  It is a very good book to read at the beach or to make you think of summer vacation.  There are sequels coming out and I look forward to reading them soon.

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Review by Becca C--, age 16 / grade 10, Massachusetts, USA

1 Oct 2010

This is one of those books that makes you say ‘Wow.’  It’s a totally fantastic story about a teenaged girl who runs away from some uncaring parents and hitchhikes to the Bahamas.  Her adventures make up a story that seems very believable just because of how much detail there is.  The main character, Deirdre, uses many different names and has to lie about her age sometimes, but she is really just a nice girl who is put into strange and awkward situations and then has to deal with it all the best she can.

Most of the story takes place in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas.  Deirdre works as an exotic dancer which is exactly what people back home would not expect of her.  But she is smart and creative and makes it work for her.  She also works in restaurants and once as a nanny for a little girl.  Towards the end she saves the life of another nice girl, Sandy, after they are both given date rape drugs.  The two girls have a very close friendship that is actually very touching to read about.

As a basically nice person, Deirdre is a role model.  She is brave, strong and smart about making important life choices and dealing with consequences.  But she is usually disappointed and seems very sad most of the time, like she just needs someone to care about her.  Deirdre is the kind of girl you would like for your friend, and the story makes you wonder why she had to leave home until she tells you at the very end.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for action, adventure, and a strong girl protagonist, especially if you want to read a book that will make you laugh, cry, sit on the edge of your seat and say ‘wow’ too.

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Review by Marguerite H., age 15 / grade 9, Maryland, USA

7 Dec 2010

I got Deirdre, the Wanderer on Amazon because I liked the description and the cover artwork looked interesting.  It is a story about a girl who runs away from home and runs into all kinds of abuse.  The girl is 15 and in 9th grade.  During her travels she is able to pass herself off as being 18 and sometimes even in college, because of how she acts and how she talks.  She has experience in sailing boats and in working on them and she uses that to sail away to the Bahamas.

In the Bahamas she manages to find an apartment with three college girls but they molest her, sexually, so she leaves and takes a job as a nanny.  Later she gets a job and works at a restaurant, until the owner’s son harasses her and attempts to rape her.  She fights back and quits and walks out after throwing her ripped shirt at him in front of everyone.  Later she meets a really nice rich guy but he thinks she is older and wants to marry her and get her pregnant so he can inherit all this money.  So she steals his arch-rival’s boat and sails to a deserted island where she gets to run around with no clothes on till this boring guy and his beautiful wife come, and then she seduces the guy’s wife.  So she is sort of a lesbian, but I think she is just confused and a little immature about it and doesn’t know herself yet.  Her next job is in Nassau where she works as an exotic dancer and people stuff lots of money into her underwear every night.  This is the sexiest part of the book and it actually makes you kind of envy her.

At the end she ends up living with this pretty rich girl from a really good school because she saved her life from some guys who gave them date rape drugs.  She and the rich girl become very close friends and have a kind of love affair, but it is not so much gross as it is sweet and romantic.  This part is kind of hard to read unless you have an open mind, but it was very tender and it makes you wish you had close friends you could share everything with.  That’s probably the author’s intention, to show how even one really close friend can change your whole life for the better.

The book is full of detail, especially about boats and houses and what the Bahamas look like.  After reading about Bay Street in Nassau I would like to go and see it.  There are other details about her jobs and how much money she makes that make it sound like you could follow what the main character does and be just as successful.  But the book was written before 9/11 and the world has changed, so you can’t.  Therefore it is basically a fantasy story that makes you think ‘what if?’

The book is kind of long but it keeps moving and you don’t want to put it down.  My favorite part was reading about her job as the exotic dancer because there is so much detail you feel like you are actually her experiencing it all.  The saddest part is that the main character is only 15 years old, and everything that happens is a lot to handle when you are 15.  Most people would not succeed the way she does.  This is why you want to feel sorry for her and wish you could help her or just be her friend, which is what she needs most of all.

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