Do you ever Google your character names? I usually do if it sounds too familiar. I've found that some of my names belong to sports people or characters from other books which means having to make a change. Today I was working on a bit of fairytale flash and chose the name Scarlett Rose. It seemed a bit familiar so I turned to Google hoping that I hadn't "borrowed" a fairytale name.
Surprise! Scarlett Rose was the name of a porn star who sells sex toys. Oh yeah, definitely need to change that one.
What have you found on Google that made you change a character's name or even perhaps your entire story?
2 comments:
I sometimes go back to a draft and realize that I gave two characters very similar names and failed to notice.
When I decided to give Diana another prostitute as a sidekick, I came up with the name Mary Alice Mercier and was pleased to get no Google hits for it. Since then, a real Mary Alice Mercier, who must have been about eight years old at the time, has grown up and taken her rightful place on the web. I hope she doesn't mind.
Yes, I've done that too, Al. Or give characters names that start with the same letter and have to change them.
I'm sure she won't mind, Al, what girl wouldn't want to have her name in a book?
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