When Your Character Deserves Better Than a Boring Baby Book Name
As I’m getting the first book in my Lily Gallagher series ready for ARC readers and publication, I’m starting to second guess myself about several of the characters’ names.
Worse, one of them is a recurring character who shows up in both the first and second books, and will probably play a role in subsequent books as well. The name I originally gave her was Pat (short for Patricia) McLeod. But Pat is just so bland. So I started thinking about other nicknames for Patricia. There’s Trish, and Tricia, and Patty. She’s definitely not a Patty! Patsy? No. I don’t see her as a Trish or Tricia either.
What about an entirely different name? She’s a retired librarian, so, musical theater nerd that I am, the name Marion immediately popped into my brain. Maybe not so much.
The problem is, Patricia is actually a very common name for women of her age. Growing up I can’t begin to tell you how many classmates I had who were Pat, Patty, or Patsy. So it’s realistic. But hardly memorable.
What’s in a name, and all that? Does it really matter?
Well, yes it does. Although she’s not the main character, she descrves a suitable name. Would Gone With The Wind have been such a huge bestseller if Margaret Mitchell had stuck with the original name for her protagonist? Somehow, Pansy O’Hara (yes, that was Scarlett’s original name, right up until the last minute) just doesn’t have the same impact.
What do you think?
What I’m Reading
Major Bricket and the Circus Corpse by Simon Brett
Any time Simon Brett starts a new series, it’s cause for celebration. This one is no exception.
Major Bricket has just retired and is returning to live full-time in the house he’s owned for many years in the village of Stunston Peveril, Suffolk. Retired from what? Nobody in the village knows, although there are plenty of theories being bandied about.
However, his homecoming is marred when he finds a corpse dressed up as a circus clown in his garage.
Well written, witty, and cleverly plotted, like all of Simon Brett’s mysteries.
Louisiana Longshot by Jana DeLeon
Fortune Redding is a CIA assassin who’s in big trouble. An arms dealer has put a price on her head, and there’s a mole in the CIA. That means Fortune has to go undercover in what might be her most difficult assignment ever, as the surviving neice of a recently deceased resident of Sinful, Louisiana.
Between the bayou, the alligators, and the hunky sheriff’s deputy, not to mention her “aunt’s” friends, she’s never had a tougher role to play.
This is the first in the Miss Fortune series, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest.
Notable Quotes
Perpetua had, needless to say, been beautifully brought up. She could have represented England in the Olympic Small Talk Competition.
- Major Bricket and the Circus Corpse by Simon Brett
This made me giggle. But seriously, there are competitions for everything you can imagine (and some things I wouldn’t want to!), so why not small talk?
If his manner had been any more wooden you could have made a chest of drawers out of him.
- Murder in Williamstown by Kerry Greenwood
I can picture him, can’t you?
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Wise Words
I’m going to pose another little puzzle similar to the one I used in my newsletter of June 11. So I’ll provide a quote, and you let me know, either in the comments or via email, what’s wrong with it. All the information you need is contained within the quote.
“I was here that weekend. So I don’t have an alibi.”
“Of course you do. You were with me the entire weekend.”
“No I wasn’t.” Faith set down her cup and put both hands over her face. “Remember? You had to go take care of Madison on Sunday while Eric and Claire took Benjamin to the ER for his broken arm.”
Eric was Eileen’s son and he and his wife, Claire, had two children. They lived in Provincetown, Rhode Island.
- A Novel Murder by Elizabeth Penney
As always, I’ll share the solution next week.
I've no clue on the puzzle, but what about the nickname "Mac" for Patricia McLeod? I have a daughter named Patricia, so I like the name. My husband and I called her Trisha as a child, but she prefers Patti now... her brothers called her "Trasha," but that's probably not the direction you're thinking of heading...