Novel outlining begins!

I've been entertaining myself today with NaNoWriMo plans.

(For those abbreviationally unaware, that means I'm scheming for my novel next november)

And it's very exciting.

The first thing I have to do, always, is figure out the characters. And the first thing I have to figure out about the characters is their names. Because, really, outlining is no good when you're describing someone as FMC2 (Female Main Character).

And names are hard.

I'm one of those people who has to make the names of the characters not only match their personalities, but also their role in the story somehow. For example, the narrator of the novel I'm planning's name is Cassie, short for Cassandra, named after the daughter of Priam. She was blessed with prophecy, but cursed in that no one would believe her. Apollo's fault. That Apollo.

Anyway, this Cassie has trouble getting believed as well. Also, Cassandra is greek for "entangler of men" according to wikipedia, and Cassie is something of a charmer.

Michaela, the other main character's name, means "Who is like God?" according to some baby name website. It's relevant for reasons I haven't figured out yet, but I know that she's the cause of a good deal of action and drama and intrigue, and there is definitely a mystery surrounding her. Both of her "parents'" names mean "protector", so that says something too.

The funny thing is that I don't expect anyone to go around looking up the etymologies of my characters' names. And I'm not going to explicitly address it, because it seems cliche and unnecessary, and brings up some plausibility issues (how did Cassie's parents KNOW she was going to have that problem?). Not that plausibility is often an issue in my novels, which have involved chess games with death, ancient cows, and otherworldly gas stations.

And of course it's got comedy and romance, because it's me. That is what keeps me enjoying it.

In other news, Daphna is coming down for the weekend, so expect the blog posts to be a little shorter, less frequent, and less coherent. But in return, you'll likely get some pretty great Real Conversations.

And in other other news, Dad's hearing was today. It was kind of a lovefest, not gonna lie. The Senate puts these things up on youtube, so I'll link to it when that happens. Not that you want to watch- the only really interesting part (to those not particularly involved with bank secrecy and/or NATO) is when my dad makes a car business joke. And when John Kerry mentions me. I remain starstruck, although I should be cool and political and jaded by these folks by now.

Love always,
Clara