I have a writing tip for indie writers. A reader forwarded to me an article on the indie writing industry and the young adult/new adult genre. It’s hot. Super hot. We all know this. There are authors out there making a killing. This person wanted my opinion on the books and in order to give one, I’ve been reading most of the ones cited in the article and some others on my own. Some are good. Some are okay. Some I just don’t get. But good or bad, there is one annoying commonality that separates many of them from traditionally published young adult authors like Chbosky, Green, and company. Something so easy to remedy, too. It has to do with character names but first, some qualifiers.
First, I wasn’t even going to make this a post. This was going to be another one of my non sequiturs on Facebook, but lately I’ve been treating my Facebook page like another blog and I need to get out of that habit. It’s great for having back and forth conversations with people, but I don’t want to regurgitate content, which is easy to do when you are on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you follow me everywhere, you have lost any element of surprise when it comes to what I will blog about for the week. Sorry. Expect to see improvement soon.
Second, what I’m about to say can be taken for what it’s worth. I’ve never completed any fiction, though I have tried so I know how difficult it is to do. I am a pretty good editor, and part of me believes I was born to edit, not write. Hear me out on this and see if I don’t make a teeny bit of sense.
Character names. Writers, slow your roll with the creative names. If I read about one more character named Mace, Kayden, Layken, Zade, Reif, Holder, Caymen or Xandalyn, I’m going to lose my mind. Save that creativity for your plot. Every indie book I have read has been a contemporary young adult/new adult, so the setting is present day. The average character is between 18 and 20 years of age, which means they were born between 1993-1995 (God help me). Check the Social Security Administration website for popular names during the decade of your characters’ birth and select from that group for at least 75% of your characters. Here are the top 10 names from the 1990s.
Look at those names. Now look at the names of the characters in your book. The wackiest name for a girl in 1990 was Taylor. Taylor, a beautiful name that these days is considered a gender-neutral classic. Think about this when you name your characters. Think about what was going on when your characters were born, what their parents were thinking or doing. I’m old enough to know people who had kids in the 90s, and they weren’t naming their daughters Xandalyn. You give your character a name that reflects today’s trends and you date your book almost immediately. You also create unrealistic characters and setting. If your main character has parents who are dry and stuffy and intolerant, do you really think they would name their daughter Cyclamen instead of Jessica?
But wait, you say. Plenty of people had unique names in high school prior to 2010. Hey, you’re one of those people! You had a unique name, and you were born in the 70s! So true! And you know what? So does my husband, and he was born even earlier! Two people with unique names in a time of Michaels and Jennifers. But you know who else in my high school had a unique name? No one. I was one of 500. You know who else in my husband’s high school had a unique name? No one. He was one of over 1000. When you give me a book with 10 characters set in a high school and they all have special snowflake names, I’m going to think you’re living out your name picking fantasies instead of concentrating on your story.
So, while unique names happen and have a place in any contemporary young adult novel, you can get away with one, maybe two, because otherwise you will have to convince your reader that in your characters’ small town of Podunk, USA (rant for another day) an entire high school’s worth of parents all got together in 1995 and said let’s name our kids Mace, Kayden, Layken, Zade, Reif, Holder, Caymen and Xandalyn. Good luck with that.
I’m done here. Now go write me a book about a boy named Christopher who falls in love with a girl named Sarah.
p.s. One last thing since you’re taking requests. When Christopher and Sarah first touch–say they brush fingers when he hands her a pencil during Spanish–if you could leave out that line about them literally feeling currents of electricity or shocks or heat waves or any sort disturbance in polarity, that would be awesome.
Reasons I Fell for the Funny Fat Friend is one of the books I read a few weeks ago. Cute! Super light and easy–you’ll finish it in an afternoon. It’s a baseball practice book, if that makes sense. (Please don’t read this expecting classical literature.) The main characters are Brody and Hayley, so their names are plausible. I liked it because Brody narrates the book. As a mother of boys, I loved hearing a male voice. I don’t know how authentic it was since my boys aren’t teenagers, but I had fun reading it. I wasn’t thrilled with how quickly their sexual relationship progressed, and not just because I’m old fashioned. Young girls–junior high girls–need books that encourage body variety and acceptance. They don’t need to read about any of that other stuff, even if it is tame by almost any adult’s standards.
Another tip? Hire a cover designer. Maybe it’s because I look at book covers all day, but if I see one more self-published book cover with “istock” ghosted in the background I’m going to lose it.
Agree. Some designers are better than others. Colleen Hoover uses a good one. I don’t think the one Becca Ann used is all that great, but it’s better than what I’ve seen.
For me, sometimes the font is what drives me crazy. The title on the above cover looks good, the author’s name, not so much. Too generic. If that even makes sense.
So many things to respond to here…yes, yes, yes, yes.
I know I was a weird kid, but my idea of fun was going through a baby name book and imagining characters for the different names. I loved creating characters more than actually writing their stories–which has a lot to do with why I don’t have a fiction writing career and will never publish a book in this genre.
This also explains why my own (born in the 90s) children’s names have been a source of some angst. I swear I wanted more kids just so I could name them. Only reason. I was so pleased to see that neither name was on your list, because I hate to be trendy/popular. I, of course, wanted names that would be as unique and perfect as my babies.
I ended up with Will and Grace for my twins. These were both family names, and after years of infertility they seemed perfect metaphors for all that their creation required. I loved these names, neither of which were popular when I bestowed them upon my kids. 6 months later, there was a little TV show that debuted named (wait for it)…Will & Grace. Which meant that I, book/name lover and TV hater, spent the next 10 years saying, “No, I didn’t name my kids after a TV show.” Aargh.
(And if those writers want to be true to the times, they need to give most of the females names that begin with a K-sound and end with an “ie.” Grace once had Kaylie, Kaylee, Kylie, Carley, and Kira on her soccer team.) OK, sorry for the book-length comment!
Hah! I used to go through baby name books, too! Will and Grace happen to be two of my favorite names. They were in my top 10 for baby names.
I love creating characters, too. And really and truly, I love editing. I was an editor on my law school’s journal, and I applied for the most boring, technical position. I love making words fit together. I would gladly edit the work for some of these indie writers. Not for free, mind you, but I’d gladly do it.
I haven’t read any of this genre but I’ll have to check it out. I’m with you on the unique name thing. I named my son Chase back in the 90’s and now it’s really common for boys and girls. I’m thinking traditional names will start becoming unique again.
It’s so popular right now, and the genre is all over the map. Some are serious, some are pretty light and fluffy. Almost all deal with Very Important Issues (another peeve) that can lean towards after school specials, but that’s fine. I have to remember that I’m not the target audience. Or maybe I am? A large chunk of women 34-44 are the ones reading YA/NA. It’s the nostalgia/escape factor.
It makes me internally groan when people misuse literally. You were literally on fire? Really? Someone get a fire extinguisher, stat.
I used to think it was a CA thing, but I think it’s a grammatical trend that has (sadly) swept the nation! ;)
I LOVE this post!
Whew. I was afraid I would come off like Super Beeotch.
Interesting take on the names. I’ve never noticed. As for the “literal” attempts to describe passion. Yes. When I read that the characters brush fingers, I get the butterflies reminiscent of first loooove. As soon as the author starts going into their attempt at describing that feeling, the feeling is gone.
Rainbow Rowell did an excellent job describing the butterflies in Eleanor in Park. I got butterflies for the characters reading about them holding hands! And you know what? NOT ONCE did they feel sparks/power surges/electricity.
As a connoisseur of the genre I am with you 1000%. There’s a lot of good stuff happening in YA fiction, and there’s a whole lotta derivative junk. If you haven’t read them yet, try Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (older YA) and Gary Schmidt’s Wednesday Wars and OK for Now (younger YA) for some high quality boy narrators. And very age appropriate romance. Ooh, and David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy. It’s a subgenre I call YA Gay, and it’s wonderful. His characters are so dear. They’re always really good kids, just trying to do the right thing. So refreshing, and yet very real. His collaboration with John Green (Will Grayson, Will Grayson) is also great.
I’ll check those out, thanks! But have you found any super stars in the indie arena? There are one or two stories that have stood out, but none for me that would get 5 stars. I almost never give 5 stars, but still.
I guess I’m kind of a snob. Well, and I have limited time for reading. So I don’t read much indie. In general, I think there’s a reason some stuff gets published by reputable houses and some doesn’t. I realize that there are exceptions, and that I’m probably falling behind the self-publishing times, but right now I just don’t have the time and patience to weed through the dreck to find the good ones. And really, there’s enough dreck being published and pushed by big houses! I rely on recommendations a lot, and many of the authors I mentioned above are also big readers and recommenders as well.
That’s kind of my point. I think once you get to a certain caliber of writing, you skip indie publishing and go straight to traditional publishing–for now–because that is where the prestige is. I don’t know that it will always be like that.
I also don’t know that many of the writers who are published are any better than the ones who self publish. What I do know is they have an entire publishing house behind them providing them support in the form of editing, story guidance, marketing, distribution, etc.
That said, as far as finding another John Green in self publishing? Not likely.
I second Gail’s comment about loving this post! Before your post, I never gave much thought to the character names, but you make a very valid point! I have a son who was born in 1992 and didn’t realize his name was in the top 10 popular names from the 90s. I’m not ashamed to admit I named him after Nick (Malory’s boyfriend from Family Ties). :D
I have a Nico, and I imagine once he gets older his friends will call him Nick. :)
So many good points here, where to I begin!?
First, everyone who writes needs to do some research! (And not everyone who writes books is a writer, sorry; you have to earn that title through learning, practice, and dedication to the craft.) With Google and cousins literally ;) at your fingertips, there’s no excuse.
Also, the names I use in my novels have MEANING. For example, Donovan is Celtic for �strong fighter.� And Cathren (who dreams of being a princess on a beautiful island) has a last name, Whitney, which means “from the white island.” By the way, for name research, I highly recommend Character Naming Sourcebook, by Sherrilyn Kenyon. You can find it in hardcover and paperback for a song.
Second, covers: Hire an artist! There, the secret is out. Go to deviant art or scour the web. There are BRILLIANT artist out there and you WILL fall in love with one (or many). Talk to them. Most will be thrilled and flattered that you’d want their art to grace your book.
I’m working with Rob Sacchetto on my horror/comedy (I think this is an actual category, something like “horredy,” or so I’ve heard). You can see the work he did (along with my cover designer Dawna Charron) on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Mad-About-Undead-You-ebook/dp/B009BC52EC) and/or my website (http://www.carlplumer.com). The three of us are working together now on my second cover and it’s awesome. ;)
Third, misused words. Again, do your research everyone! Thesaurus.com and Dictionary.com. I use them every day, constantly. Get some books on grammar (and punctuation, while your at it). I’m not a stickler for incorrect usage in everyday conversation, however. I like that people misuse language and make things up, actually. It’s fun.
But just not in print. Makes ya seem dum. (Except for when a character is talking of course! Then that’s defining the character. ” ‘When I saw that ring, my eyes popped right out of my head!’ she said. She was always saying things like that.”
Sorry for such a lengthy response, but you provide much food for thought!
At my daughter’s all girl middle school with a total of 64 girls in the grade, there are 8 girls named Emma! One eighth Emmas! I think it was an attempt to be unique (and Emma is a lovely name!) but that did not work out. They all came up with nick names in order to function well at school.
When I needed to come up with a “stage” name for a baby sample on my website (which is as close as I will ever get to writing a novel) …..you can guess where that went! But have a look at it. You can use this link, http://www.photozini.com/pages/examples or see my banner ad on Pancakes & French Fries. Enjoy!
Agreed, all around!
Another pet peeve: modern vernacular in historical fiction. Now I realize, you cannot pen your medieval narrative in old english and expect people to read it. But there’s no need to go crazy with modern english, either. Having your main character call another one a dick (multiple times) . . . really?
Of course, if ‘dick’ was bantored about willy-nilly in the middle ages, I’m all for it!
Oh!!! Just the other day I read something where the same thing happened. Gah. I can’t remember the book but I thought the same thing. Who knew the Wild West was so street?
Oh my gosh. I love this so much. You need to always write a post about whatever is rant-worthy about the things you’re reading.
If I wrote a post about everything I read (and probably rant worthy) I would need an entirely knew blog. :)
And this is why I will likely never get behind self-pubbed books: all books need editors. They exist for reasons such as these.
That being said, maybe you should consider freelance-editing some motivated self-pub authors? That sounds fun. I might do it.
Ohhhh, have I told you how much I love your posts ? Aside from the fact that I haven’t been reading any YA lately (and probably won’t be any time soon) and can’t speak to this trend there, I’ve seen it elsewhere and it drives me crazy. Why you ask? I am one of the ‘only one in school with my name’ people! When I say the “only one”, I mean nobody was even close to having a name like mine. I’m 40 now and I’ve met a total of 7 people with my name (one of which is a baby named after me, so that’s nice!)in my lifetime. All of my friends (and even my siblings) have nice normal names from the 70’s and 80’s. So I’m with you, let’s make a stand against names that are ridiculous and distracting from the story! (see me shaking my fist in the air LOL)
excellent point! i hope they’re listening. i get caught up on unlikely details when i’m trying to read fiction. i find myself questioning the probability of names, features, coincidences.. follow the pixar rules- coincidence to get into trouble is okay, coincidence to get out of trouble is cheating.
Ha ha. I thought the title was “Reasons Hell for the Funny Fat Friend” when I read the cover. Whoops.
Huzzah for this post! Well said, my dear. Well said.
On an only slightly related note, I realized the other day that the John Green of the hilarious (and incredibly informative) Crash Course and List Show web videos is THE SAME John Green who wrote Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars, et al. I’m much more motivated to read them now.
Also, for some really good (non-YA) self pub, check out Hugh Howey’s “Wool” series. It’s dystopian, which I know has been done to death, but it’s one of the best I’ve read in the genre. It’s been picked up by a big publisher now, so it’s available via Amazon.
I just need you to know how much I loved reading this.
Have you ever considered writing an e-book or guest authoring on other sites?
I have a blog based upon on the same ideas you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information.
I know my viewers would enjoy your work. If you are even remotely interested,
feel free to shoot me an e-mail.
Here is my website; baseball superstars 2013 cheats – Mallory –