Friday, February 3, 2012

Friday Obsessions - Names, Men with Swords, and Marshmallow Cereal

Well, friends? It's been a bang-up writing week over here.  The first official queries for ONE went out on Monday and I've been delighted to send out some requests by Friday. So, rule. I'm convinced this good fortune is due to your good vibes, so keep 'em coming.  (Thank you!) 

Up next week on the blog, I'm planning posts on how I query, since I know some of you think my method is insane, and also how to stay sane while querying.
(Not that I'm a paragon of success in that endeavor. But I try.)

Ahem.

Alright. Here we go.
Everything I was obsessed with this week.
Because I know you want to know.

1. Names
I've always been sort of obsessed with names. Their meanings, the stories behind them, etc. And being a Lady Who Knows Her Bible (part of the day job description, you see) I took great joy in naming my children in the same way the matriarchs did - with stories and deep, personal meanings behind them.  Now that the fetus has a name, I'm pretty much done with that bit of fun.

Luckily, I write. Making up new characters allows me to name things without going through labor or wiping any additional bottoms, which, now that I think of it, may be one of the top ten reasons I write. Huh.

The characters in my first two books were not named like that at ALL. I just...named them things I liked. For Nik, I wanted a girl with a boy's nickname, because...I liked it. I wanted Davis to have the kind of last name that could serve as the first. "Merrin," I just liked, and "Elias" just sounds sexy-but-geeky to me. (Did it work, CPs?) I named Leni after my grandmother, who is even more kickass in real life.

But CHROME, the alleged WiP, demands a bit more thought and care in this regard. Each of the names I use for this one has to pack a punch of meaning as well as have some seriously awesome linguistic roots. It took me for-freaking-ever to come up with Havah's name, and I'm still not sure I'm keeping it.

So...yeah. Obsessed with names these days.

2. Men with Swords

I've obsessed over Prince Charming from Once Upon a Time, and I promised myself I would shut up about this particular obsession, but I'll be darned if I haven't picked up two CPs this year who have Men with Swords in their manuscripts.

I'm reading one now. It's really distracting. You know, in the best way possible.

Marieke! Our man Nathan looks like this, right?
man with two blades

Or maybe this?


(ignore my girl Mia, she's just there as a prop in this case)

But preferably - HOPEFULLY - like this?  Yes??? Okay. Good.



3. Marshmallow Cereal
Some obsessions are just unhealthy and bad for you, and there's no way around it. I know I should be eating raisin bran or Greek yogurt or oatmeal. I know.

But I CANNOT STOP THINKING about marshmallow cereal. It's talking to me, you guys.
I might have eaten a (couple) bowls this week. Oops.

Let's blame it on Merrin. She loves junky food.




What about you, sweet readers? What were your obsessions this week?

20 comments:

  1. Helloooo Hornblower *trips over feet* :D

    Nathan totally looks like Prince Charming though. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. Perfection! :-)

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    1. Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. I knew it. I KNEW IT. Day=made.

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  2. Heeeeyyyy, Ioan Gruffudd. :DDDD

    omg I want Lucky Charms so bad. ;_; And also--Havah is a palindrome! I just realized. Now I love it more than before.

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    1. Yeeeeeah. That's symbolic too. >.< Guess I'm keeping that one....Chessie approval pretty much trumps everything in this regard.

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  3. Congratulations on the requests! I'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed for you.

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  4. Michael Fassbender. Oh, sweet eye candy. Mmm...
    Yes, men with swords are awesome. And marshmallow cereals. This week I was obsessed with chocolate cake. I made one on Sunday and proceeded to single-handedly eat 60% of it over the week. I'm ... not proud of this. (Okay, LIES! I'm totally proud of myself.)
    And NAMES! I love names! I have Baby Names lists and Character Names lists (boy and girl for each). The site I use is babynames.com. Usually when I name a character, I'm quite deliberate about it (not with super minor chars, but everyone else). For instance, I have a very small nod to one of my favorite authors in my current WIP and then decided to name a char with the initials of the author's real name (he uses a pen name). I'm so glad someone else understands my obsession with names! And YES, naming is one of the most fun parts of writing.
    Congrats on the requests!!! I knew your mistake from earlier was just a small thing. :)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Faaassssssyyyyyy!
      Oh, goodness. Might need to watch Jane Eyre again this weekend.

      Thanks for your good vibes. You're the best. :)

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  5. Congrats on sending out queries, and on getting insta-successes! You rock!

    (And so does marshmallow cereal. :))

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    1. YOU rock. And seriously, I might have another bowl of that stuff. I get ten more weeks to blame the fetus. :)

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  6. I obsessed over names too. I spent weeks researching what names in history would fit into my main characters' background. Then after all that I ended up deciding to use the nicknames I originally picked out (before the research). I guess my mind was already made up. That was like with my kids too. I loved the first name we picked out for my second son, but we had to veto it because it was too much like his cousin's name. Then when he was born we said, who cares, and used it anyways. None of the other names fit just right.

    I love Prince Charming too - so glad he came to his senses.

    Good luck with the requests :)

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    1. So funny about naming kids being like naming your characters - I agree - it has to FEEL right. I've got lists of unused names that I just never used because when the moment came, they were just WRONG.

      And Ohhhhh goodness. I could watch those scenes with him and Snow forEVER. mmmmm


      Thank you. :)

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  7. LOVE men with swords too!

    And Michael Fassbender? *swoons*

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  8. that IS Fassbender
    ::shiver::

    I wanted to come say hi to my CP-in-law (we're both married to, I mean critiquing Jamie - isn't she the best?)

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    1. *waves hello* Jamie is the shiznit. I mean, seriously. I just want to hug her and her beautiful book...even if she is from Michigan.

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  9. I'm a bit obsessed with names as well. My name is so ordinary and common that I went a bit overboard with some of my kids. All four of them have names of characters in books my husband and I love. (The most ordinary one among them is Fiona.)

    And I have to say I'm partial to Prince Charming too. At first I thought he was pretty generic, but he grew on me. They have a great chemistry going on between him and Snow.

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    1. Oooh! Fiona is beautiful! My kids all have weird names, too - "Asher" is the most normal. :)

      And PC - oh my Lord. I thought he was generic, too...until he OPENED HIS MOUTH AND SPOKE. *fans self*

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  10. Ooh, I've pictured Nathan as No. 3 all the way through reading!!! :)

    Hugs,

    Rach

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