Importance of Names

When I had my son I (we) couldn't decide between two names we liked, so I decided to wait for my daughter and ask her what she thought. My 3yr old turned up and I asked her which of the two names she liked.One of the options was Sean but she said no.Later she told me this was because she was worried that if we named him Sean he would turn into Shaun the Sheep (obviously been watching too much Wallace and Gromit) I did point out it was a different spelling but that didn't matter.

Whilst I was working in school, I overheard a teacher talking about names for her baby and she said they were struggling because they needed a new name - that was one that had never been given to a child she had taught in all her years of teaching. I could see her point.

In my writing I find that a lot of my research time is spent on finding the right name. I often find names I like but they don't fit my vision for my character. For the short story I have just completed I found a name I liked but it didn't fit my kick butt female warrior - I used it for a healer instead! I like to find names that have the meaning for what the person is eg a healer, even if I don't tell the readers the meaning, I know they're there.

All this got me thinking about the importance of names. Have you ever had a preconcieved idea of what someone is like purely based on their name? or thought that someone's name didn't suit them?

Now you know why I spend so long reasearching names for my characters.

#http://www.behindthename.com/

Into Fire - Brittany Westerberg

Into Fire is Brittany's first novel and it is an engaging read - I read it in one day.

"The fifteen year old Leora had always planned her entire life around working with her brother and father in their gemsmithing shop. She enjoyed it, she was good at it, and she wanted nothing more than to do it. But fate had other plans for Leora.
On a day like any other, Leora's life was turned upside-down when two strangers visited her and informed her family that she had the power of a Mage—abilities she had always been raised to fear. As they seek to whisk her away and train her in her abilities, Leora must decide whether to remain in the family business, or explore these amazing abilities, and, a potential link to her mother.
Deciding to embrace the adventure, Leora learns that there is a lot more in the world outside her home than she thought. With new allies, challenges, experiences, and problems she never knew even existed, Leora must accept the person she was meant to become or lose everything that ever meant anything to her."

Leora is a feisty character from the start (which is a nice surprise) and most of the other mage's who come into contact with her agree she is likely to get into trouble-which she does!

The book had all the right ingredients, trainee magic, love intreest,bad guys and intresting characters. If you like an easy read with magic and fantasy thrown in I would definitely try this book. I hope there may be a sequel in the future.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004K1EX7G The book is available in kindle and paperback form. The link will take you to Amazon.co .uk but is it available on Amazon.com too.