Shiny and new

I love new story ideas. I love the way they randomly pop into my head. I love the way scenes play out in my mind, like I'm watching a movie. I find it very exciting when a new character finally tells me his name.

My latest story idea came to me in a dream. That's it, a dream! (Sorry, too many Guys & Dolls rehearsals!) It's vaguely related to something that's actually taking place behind the scenes at the show, but I think that it's going to take on a lot of new dimensions, and a different slant on things.

In any case, tonight, my MC told me his name. He's Owen. I really wasn't too keen on the name at first, and I've been looking through my baby name books (yes, I have more than one), trying to find something else, but nothing else wants to stick. His name may change once I start actually writing it, but for now, the story is about Owen. Oo! And one of the female leads (the first one to appear) is Riley.

Some people think it's a bit odd, the way I describe naming my characters. I often refer to characters telling me their names, but it really feels as if that's how it happens. I've got two ways of naming characters. First, if I don't actually have much of a plot developed, or if I'm writing in a group setting (or playing D&D), I go through my books and choose a name that just feels good. I then develop a character based on the name. The second way is by listening to the character. Although I don't do a lot of written character development, I think about my characters a lot. In a new piece that is very plot-driven, I may know an awful lot about my characters before I get a chance to get to a name book. In those cases, the name comes from who the character develops into, rather than the character coming from the name. It's not really as if there's a voice in my head that said, "Hi, I'm Owen!" That's just the best way I can find to describe it.

Really, the only voice in my head is mine. And the voices on the soundtrack.