I had such fun reading the comments to last month’s favorite ice cream and/or quotation blog, that I can’t resist posing another “favorites” question (and/or two). I was tempted to do favorite comfort food, but I got so happily and tantalizingly hungry reading–and, yes, sampling–the ice creams, I’ve decided on a no calorie category this month.
“What’s in a name?” Juliet Capulet wanted to know when she was informed that a romance with Romeo Montague was a star-crossed notion indeed. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Young though she was, Juliet (and, okay, Shakespeare) voiced an impressively grown up observation. Ah, Juliet–and William–if only I could follow it!
Every time I start a book, I pull out all the baby names books, and pay special attention to every name that pops up before me online, on TV, in books, magazines . . . you get the idea. I’m particularly in search of male names, hero names, names that say to me strong, honorable, noble, kind. I should, as Juliet suggests, be able to take any name and make it heroic (that which we call a hero by any other name would be as strong, honorable, noble, kind.) And, given that the names that feel heroic to me may not push the same buttons for my readers, I have undoubtedly and unwittingly chosen names that someone else might consider not heroic. Hopefully, by the end of the book, I’ve been able to show, as Juliet would have it, that it’s the man, not the name, that makes the hero.
I’m not, however, grown up enough to begin with a name that has never called to me and turn it, him, into a heroic one. I’ve tried! But I inevitably end up doing a global find and replace in the manuscript and swapping the uneasy, experimental name with a familiar, appealing one. I would not have been bold enough to name Gibbs, of NCIS fame, Leroy Jethro. But, of course, because I now know the man, the hero, the rose himself, it’s great.
This month’s blog giveaway is a signed copy of the new trade paperback edition of ROOMMATES. The main hero is a gorgeous, tormented, sexy, tormented, noble–did I mention tormented?–man named Jake.
If you’d like to enter the giveaway, please let me know one (or many–I’m searching!) of your favorite and intrinsically hero-evoking names.
Or, and this is purely curiosity, but I’m finding I’m really enjoying the new fall TV season and would like to know what others are enjoying (or not), please jot down a TV hit – or miss. Except for Jake, I didn’t mention any of my favorite hero names (advisedly). But a few of my favorite shows are: you guessed it, NCIS, Hawaii 5-0 (I’ve loved Alex O’Loughlin since Moonlight; great other cast, too), Castle (I’m late to this series but am now involved), the CSI franchise except the original (to me, it has trended, and continues to trend, into the gratuitously gory and macabre at the expense of character development since Grissom left), Against the Wall, White Collar, Suits. the list, and commentary, could go on and on!
I am surprisingly hooked on X Factor and didn’t expect to be.
Happy autumn, all best wishes, and, if you’re in the mood, I hope you’ll wander by www.katherinestone.com.
Katherine
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