For a writer, naming things is everything. I mean, you say Harry Potter and anyone in their right mind knows who it is. Same with places - Howgwarts, Middle Earth, Endor, and even things - Tardis, Light Saber, Enterprise.
These things weren't always iconic. First, they were a nameless vision in a writer's head.
Some writer's seem to throw out whatever comes at them first, with no thought to it. Other writers ask others for thought/opinions on names. While 3 of my names were suggested by a friend when I was stumped, for most of my people and places, I've given careful and considerable thought to.
I'm a fan of K & J names. Back when my novel was just a writing prompt (a stripped down version of Chapters 5-8) the title was "Exposed" and Ripley's character name was Kendra, and Kenzie didn't have a name. It was actually unclear if she was a man or a woman, and done on purpose at the time.
First came the character changes. When I decided to expand on Exposure, see how Natural Exposure came to be, I wanted the MC to have the K name. I'm unsure where Kenzie came from, but I'd watched a lot of Lost Girl the year before, so it might have came from there. With Jarrett, I had a lot of J names I couldn't use and wanted something unique. Though I considered Jensen for a while, I didn't want anything already known too well, so Jarrett it was. With Ripley, I wanted the reasoning behind her name to be unique, so I started thinking of her age and what movie character she could have been named for. I didn't want Leia, and I liked Ripley when I thought of it, so it stuck.
Then there was changing the title. Exposed is a title used A LOT. Go to Goodreads, type Exposed and the word is used in 8,212 titles. Geeesh!! I wanted some creativity - something different and unique. So, I started thinking.
It didn't take me long, considering I was writing about an erotic photography studio, to come up with Natural Exposure. Both words have photography meanings with natural lighting, and exposure. But both also had nude meanings - being natural and being exposed. It was perfect and I loved it right away. And, it's unique. Go onto Goodreads and type in Natural Exposure and the two words are used just 16 times in random journals - except mine. It's the ONLY fiction book and it sits right on top. That's AWESOME!! Likewise, my planned title for my 2nd book is in more fiction books, but it's still only 16 titles (oddly enough). Book 3, if I stick with it, has only 14 other titles with that name.
Titles are so important. Why do you wanna stack up against some big names out there? If your book has a well known or popular title, why not think about it more and see if you can change it?
For me, my fictional town of Bijou Basin has a rich and unique history. They have a lot of homages to Disney and other Pop Culture references within it as well as just unique and fun names for the businesses. A couple of the businesses named in Natural Exposure are:
- Jinks
- The Tasty Cow
- Harnessing the Lightning
More are revealed in Ripley's short story and in Book 2.
So for the last week or so, I've been trying to come up with a name for a pizza joint. When I need a name, I let it stew, usually for a day or two and it comes to me - much like my pantsing style of writing. This time, the name was alluding me, and it was more like a week. It'd been driving me so nuts I had a dream about it the other night.
Last night, right before I went to sleep, I thought "I haven't thought about a pizza joint name today" and just like that - like flicking a switch, I had the name and the history of the pizza place. It's yet another tongue-in-cheek name and so silly I was up thinking about it for a while before finally falling asleep. And that's how I finally named my pizza joint.
I thought about telling you what it is, and it's history, but I'm not sure y'all would wanna know. So I guess I'll just keep it under wraps until Book 2. Whatcha think of that? :) If there are several objections, then let me know here or on Twitter, and I'll share the story in another "Behind the Writer".
Natural Exposure on Amazon
Natural Exposure on Smashwords - on $$SALE$$ for $2.40
Natural Exposure on Goodreads
A Bijou Beginning on Wattpad - FREE short story
A Bijou Beginning on Goodreads
A Discovery of BDSM on Amazon
A Discovery of BDSM on Goodreads
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