How much time do any of you spend on the names of your characters? Some seem long thought through(Remus Lupin), while others seem pulled from the 4th point of contact(Jake Featherston). Should the name match the character? How important is it?
I admit that some of my names are things I agonize over. In Salvation Day, the names of the demons, insofar as they related to their function, were very important. The main character, on the other hand, was kind of pulled from just what I thought sounded good. In Akeldama, the vampire names were heavily thoght about because their names needed to match their image. Yet in Schism, I just kinda found regular names that seemed like what anyone might have.
In my latest book, one I've been working on for two years - creative concentration isn't why it hasn't been finished...I'm just lazy and busy otherwise - the names are important. The ships from Earth that find a new world are meant to reflect a much more integrated Earth than now exists. The inhabitants of the world so discovered are meant to show parts of who they are(regal, mysterious, brutal, etc). This makes writing much more involved when I have to stop and actually provide thought to a name.
The next time you pick up a book, or sit down to write one, look at the names of the characters and figure out how much thought went into them. Some will be obvious, but some will be much more subtle. Figuring out which is which can be fun...or frustrating.
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