A cool little writers' resource can be found at http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/.
You can search for popular baby names by decade, birth year, and (to a smaller extent) state, meaning that you can get a list of suitable character names based on when and where your character was born. Useful!
It's Not About The Book #1: Morocco Pics
I've posted the best of our Morocco pictures on Flickr. You can click the "Slideshow" icon in the upper right to view it as a slideshow.
Book Recommendation: The Last Lecture
When I was home recently, Matt gave me a copy of The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow. I devoured it over the weekend.
If you haven't already heard the story, it goes like this: Carnegie Mellon has a lecture series of long standing called "The Last Lecture," in which it invites faculty members to give a lecture on any topic that has meaning to them. "If you could give one more lecture before you die," the rhetorical prompt asks, "what would it be?"
Except for Dr. Randy Pausch, computer science professor and father of three, it's not so rhetorical. He has been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer, and has less than one year to live.
The resulting lecture is a work of such joy and optimism that it has created an internet movement. "Inspirational" is a word we've quit using here in the 21st century, but it's the right word for Dr. Pausch's final work.
I encourage you to pick up a copy of the book, or watch the lecture itself. It may just make your day.
If you haven't already heard the story, it goes like this: Carnegie Mellon has a lecture series of long standing called "The Last Lecture," in which it invites faculty members to give a lecture on any topic that has meaning to them. "If you could give one more lecture before you die," the rhetorical prompt asks, "what would it be?"
Except for Dr. Randy Pausch, computer science professor and father of three, it's not so rhetorical. He has been diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer, and has less than one year to live.
The resulting lecture is a work of such joy and optimism that it has created an internet movement. "Inspirational" is a word we've quit using here in the 21st century, but it's the right word for Dr. Pausch's final work.
I encourage you to pick up a copy of the book, or watch the lecture itself. It may just make your day.
Bring on the Pain
In my past two entries I've talked about how virtues and flaws make fictional characters lovable. But there's another factor, one entirely separate from character, that engages the reader's emotions and makes her care about your story people.
I'm talking about pain. Well, pain, and a few other emotional situations that amp up the stakes and get the reader's blood pumping. They are:
Pain
I came to care about John Locke quite deeply in the very first episode about him. It wasn't particularly because of anything he was, or anything he did.
It was simply that I saw how much he was hurting--from the loss of his ability to walk, from his inability to hold onto a relationship with a woman who didn't really think of him as her man. And it broke my heart. And ever since then, I have been on his side--even at times when he's done some pretty crazy things.
Jeopardy
Okay, so all the characters on Lost are in nearly constant jeopardy. But since we'll have to be more specific for this exercise, we'll talk about Kate. Kate is in near constant jeopardy, especially in her flashback sequences, when she's practically always running from the law. Watching her in deadly jeopardy, not knowing exactly what's going to happen to her, is a thrilling--and moving--experience.
Struggle
Watching Charlie struggle to overcome his heroin addiction has been similarly moving. Even though he often made the wrong choices--when he hid the heroin filled statues, when he stole his girlfriend's heirloom for drug money--I was watching that struggle and feeling very attached to him. When the character struggles, it gives the reader something to root for--a way to get engaged.
Injustice
Back to Locke here. In the episode where we learn that his own biological father had perpetrated a devastating con on him, I could have wept for Locke. Sure, it was the pain of the situation, but it was also the sheer bloody injustice of it. It was wrong, dammit! Wrong! I was able to get righteously indignant on the character's behalf, and never had I felt more engaged with him.
All the characters on Lost have complicated storylines, with frequent doses of pain, jeopardy, struggle, and injustice, which is one of the reasons it's such a gripping show. We can't watch these people without feeling for them--without coming to love them.
I'm talking about pain. Well, pain, and a few other emotional situations that amp up the stakes and get the reader's blood pumping. They are:
- pain
- jeopardy
- struggle
- injustice
Pain
I came to care about John Locke quite deeply in the very first episode about him. It wasn't particularly because of anything he was, or anything he did.
It was simply that I saw how much he was hurting--from the loss of his ability to walk, from his inability to hold onto a relationship with a woman who didn't really think of him as her man. And it broke my heart. And ever since then, I have been on his side--even at times when he's done some pretty crazy things.
Jeopardy
Okay, so all the characters on Lost are in nearly constant jeopardy. But since we'll have to be more specific for this exercise, we'll talk about Kate. Kate is in near constant jeopardy, especially in her flashback sequences, when she's practically always running from the law. Watching her in deadly jeopardy, not knowing exactly what's going to happen to her, is a thrilling--and moving--experience.
Struggle
Watching Charlie struggle to overcome his heroin addiction has been similarly moving. Even though he often made the wrong choices--when he hid the heroin filled statues, when he stole his girlfriend's heirloom for drug money--I was watching that struggle and feeling very attached to him. When the character struggles, it gives the reader something to root for--a way to get engaged.
Injustice
Back to Locke here. In the episode where we learn that his own biological father had perpetrated a devastating con on him, I could have wept for Locke. Sure, it was the pain of the situation, but it was also the sheer bloody injustice of it. It was wrong, dammit! Wrong! I was able to get righteously indignant on the character's behalf, and never had I felt more engaged with him.
All the characters on Lost have complicated storylines, with frequent doses of pain, jeopardy, struggle, and injustice, which is one of the reasons it's such a gripping show. We can't watch these people without feeling for them--without coming to love them.
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