More Character Names

A week or so ago I was flipping channels and noted that mystery author Phillip Margolin was being interviewed on the book channel show called Mystery Ink. Host John Moore asked Phillip how he chooses character names and he indicated that he is well known for opening the phone book and blindly putting his finger on a name; he uses it either as a first or second name and continues the process until he has the character named.

Phillip has also become known for auctioning character names wherein he will use one of the winners names for a person in his latest novel. He makes no promises as to the type of character and he said that it can be disappointing for the auction winner. He gave an example of how he felt he did not make a winner happy after he used one of the person's name for a rather unsavoury balding, overweight, lawyer, which was nothing like the person who won the auction. Friends too have requested to be written into his books and on occasion he says he bows to the pressure.

I've continued collecting names; one in particular came after driving through New Westminster and seeing ads for the upcoming election. Fin Donnelly is a real person running for office but I've put his name into my character list along with a note that he is a real person and that I should use his names seperately. Either way both Fin and Donnelly are interesting names.

Here are some of my latest acquisitions:

Ashland
Winspear
Norquay
Lavinia
Violet
Jane James
Zepharia
Milton Frederick Thomas Gonzola
Vernon Lester
Maxine
Della
Opal
Inez
Verna Ramon
Melba
Elnora
Delmar Sherman
Alyce Loretta
Florine Alva
Casimir (this is a boy's name not a last name)
Junius
Harrell Dorman
Duhamel
Salois
Inigo Montoya (one of my favorite characters from The Princess Bride!)

Salynne ©2009