Today's authors Trevane and Casey
Ok, I admit it. I, Tarah, am Shawn M. Casey. As Tarah, I write historical romance, as Shawn, I write various genres of suspense. The giveaway today, THE PICKLE MY LITTLE FRIEND, is a short e-book with The Wild Rose Press, and the first book Evan and I wrote together. To date, we have two completed novels, one paranormal suspense KNOT OF THE SLAIN, the other, a romantic suspense FOR HIS EYES ONLY, which recently finaled in the Daphne Du Maurier contest. We have several other projects on the fires as well, a NASCAR themed suspense novel and a novella series. We've also started the book to follow KNOT OF THE SLAIN entitled LAND OF THE GIANTS.
Evan and I will be glad to answer any questions throughout the day.
Evan and I will be glad to answer any questions throughout the day.
great books. Where and how do you look for your ideas?
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Gosh, to be honest, from absolutely anywhere. THE PICKLE MY LITTLE FRIEND is a perfect example.
I was online with my critique partner, Kim. She was cleaning out her inbox and mentioned she got a spam email titled MY LITTLE FRIEND. The ad was for, er, shall we say, male enhancements. Of course, our conversation turned to, yes, you guessed it, pickles. I commented "Now there's a title begging for a story."
Well, a couple weeks later, we were in an online class Kim was teaching. Evan, not yet my collaboring partner, was there. In the course of the class, Kim mentioned the title I'd coined THE PICKLE MY LITTLE FRIEND. Someone asked where the title came from, and I told Kim she got to tell that story! She did. I again commented that the title was just begging for a story. Evan said "You should write it." I said, "You should write it." We went back and forth like that for a little while (something we still do,) when Kim said we should write it together.
I half-jokingly told Evan that if he wrote the first draft, I'd do the rewrite. Well, he did! Now, two completed novels, and three more in draft, later, here we are! ROFL. I would never have guessed.
I can hear a song, see a commercial, hear a real life story and suddenly have an idea. So many ideas, so little time!
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What do you think is the best thing about being a writer?
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Getting to write. (Everything else is stuff I have to do in order to get more writing time.)
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Eh, that's the truth of mothers who write! It's amazing we get anything accomplished.
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How do you come up with the names for your characters?
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I love this question! This is a toughie. Sometimes the names simply come as an epiphany. I woke up the other day with a name ringing in my head. I asked myself what the name meant, and immediately realized it was the name of a character in a novella for the series Evan and I are working on. The name came complete with who the character is. That is an unusual case.
For my main protags I usually give them a great deal of thought. I do searches, sometimes taking into account the word meanings. Sometimes I'll hear a name or someone will suggest one that hits just perfectly. I feel a name really says a lot about a character, so it's a major endeavor to find just the right one.
Evan and I once changed the hero's name because someone in real life had the same name in the same profession, and we didn't want readers to think we were unimaginative. HA!!
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In numerology, names that come to parents while the child is in-utero is actually the universe or child suggesting the name. Names have resonance that affects personality... And for women at marriage or someone who gets a nickname, the new resonance can drastically affect the person's life. Seriously, I even chose my pseudonym using numerology. You see in Dune that the hero's name has a force to defend itself. The rest of Dune is also based upon the Near-Mid East. I especially like the tarot deck in the TV mini-series.
So what does this have to do with Tarah naming her characters? Maybe the universe is channeling your character names to you through dreams?
~She-who-talks-too-much
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