I did actually win NaNoWriMo last November, I’m just slack-fingered when it comes to telling you about it. I finished at 76,009 words, but it’s been pruned back since then because I got all organic and wrote a heap of trash. It’s about a bunch of Vegas runaways who steal a sentient campervan and a three-legged dog. There are vampires, angels, ethereal beings, seers, demons and lots of queerness. I’m going to be working on it for April Camp, along with two other projects.

The first of these is book four of the not*the*same*river series, which follows Violet, a young person of complicated heritage, as she negotiates her way out of the hands of a deranged demon bishop. A friend is fatally injured by the weapon that was handed over as ransom for Violet’s safe return, so Violet has to face her captor once again to get the triblade back and save her friend. She faces werewolves, vaewolves, an army of clones, the stinking, hypnotising Devi Kappa and the paralysing Kernyx.

The other project is a New Adult LGBT+ novel about a mentor who works at the social services branch of Cascade (an un/holy task force) which prepares new vampires for life beyond the grave, and her new client who likes breaking rules almost as much as she does. Ignoring protocol, they set out to solve each other’s murders.

My overall target is 30,000 words.

Good luck and happy writing to anyone else doing April Camp this year.

I’m off to a fine start on day 2, and it’s not over yet. I’ll upload an excerpt in a few days. Good luck to everyone out there who’s giving it a go this year.

 

When I started the not the same river project, there were no websites to help me find interesting names. There was no internet at all. It was the year Eastenders arrived on the telly. The year Roger Moore stopped pretending to be James Bond. The year the wreck of the Titanic was found. The year of Live Aid. The year we said hello to Keira Knightley, Lewis Hamilton and Wayne Rooney.

There were no websites at all.

There was no internet.

NO INTERNET!

If I wanted to play a computer game, I had to plug a cartridge into the back of the keyboard or use a tape recorder. If, as a writer, I wanted to find names for my characters, I watched the telly, listened to the radio, or read magazines. So as you’ve probably worked out by now, the year was 1985 (thanks Wikipedia).

My character sketches were simple and some of the names I came up with were pretty bonkers. Or at least they were back then. Having checked the Nameberry lists of popular names, I was surprised to find so many of my character names there (not just the bonkers ones). Even the car’s name is on there. Yes, cars can have names too.

So here’s where the names I chose rate in 2017 and where I got them from in 1985.

 

7. Silas – Silas Marner by George Eliot

18. My MC, Violet – named after one of my great aunts

20. Elizabeth – the childhood friend who inspired Violet

25. Caleb – from stories my grandad used to tell me in his Northern Irish accent (not from a book)

32. Elijah – a holy book

43. Soren – boy from infant school whose name I thought was Sorry for ages (I have never met another Soren, for which I am sorry)

51. Ezra – a holy book (nobody was called this in real life)

55. Archer – BBC Radio show, The Archers (nobody was called this in 1985)

57. Daniel – childhood friend’s brother

61. Adam – biblical first man

62. Luke – Star Wars

76. Magnus – Magnus Magnusson

78. Serafina – childhood friend’s cat

79. Wesley – boy from school

87. Gabriel – archangel

101. Harvey – childhood friend’s massive dog (think it was a Boxer)

125. Noah – guy with the ark

154. Amos – Seth’s sidekick on Emmerdale (nobody under the age of 70 was called this)

180. Eden – a holy book

186. Arlo – I was convinced I’d made this name up because everyone, EVERYONE, told me it wasn’t a real name in 1985, but I guess I must’ve heard it somewhere.

322. Albert – German royal family (only old men were called this)

325. Piper (female only) – my Piper is male – Pied Piper of Hamlin story (simply was not a name in the UK)

341. Mara – Irish folklore

388. Seth – ITV show, Emmerdale (or as it was known back then, Emmerdale Farm)

404. Benedict – an order of monks who made a herbal liquer (Cumberbatch was still in short trousers)

419. Rhiannon – Fleetwood Mac song

461. Leia – Star Wars

760. Goldie – included because it’s the car’s name – a gold Ford Capri, named after Goldie Hawn

807. Jed – The Beverly Hillbillies (old man name)

 

Other character names not on Nameberry (some for good reason)…

Kite – type of bird from the Osiris myth (Egypt)

Jess – Postman Pat’s cat

Boxer – because he’s a pugilist

Old Bones – because he’s an augur

War – because he’s the son of the angel of peace – 32 year old irony at work

Cedar – tree

Maggie – Maggie Philbin (who had terrible hair for at least a decade)

 

It’s great that there are so many resources out there to help us find interesting or authentic names for our characters. It’s greater still when you discover later that the names you chose have greater significance for the characters and their arcs than you first realised. I love those discoveries.

Nameberry

Some old photos from my corner of Kent.

Chatham Riverside. Taken on Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim film camera.

Welcome to Chatham

Magpies on Rochester Castle walls

Shopping ghosts

Tap N Tin. Chatham.

Today is the third anniversary of a very special beginning. It was the first time I’d taken part in a NaNo event. More importantly, I wrote the first words of a writing project that had been brewing for thirty years.

That first book evolved into more. A second, a third. Definitely no more than four. Or six.
Today I’m writing the closing scenes of the sixth book. I’m wrecked. I’m overjoyed obviously. But also there’s fear. I’m almost done. I’ll have to do something with these books now that I’ve written them. There’s also a desperate sense of loneliness because I’ve been living with these people of mine for so long. As long as nobody forces me to interact with *gulp* real people, we’ll be good.

So there it is. Three years. Six books.

Now what?

After a shaky start, I’m getting there. I hit the halfway mark a few days ago and assuming my hands don’t drop off, I should be good.

I managed just over 3K today, far better than yesterday’s paltry 645 words.