A Rose By Any Other Name? Character Stubborness

I woke up dreaming about Fade Into Me this morning. That's how deeply I've pushed myself into Ryanne's world for these revisions. Things are going really well too. .

There is one little problem though. My male MC is being so very peculiar about his name. He's been through several different ones over the last year, most of them in the last two months. It's been: Carter, Caedmon, Kieran, Devin, Zander and now I'm trying on Alec.

What is your name!!!???

Never has a character given me so many problems over a name. And names are so important! They really do affect how the characters feel in my head. *sigh* The good news is that the last name change happened during a read aloud at writer's group last night. Alec survived that.

It's sad too though because I liked Zander until he said, "I'm Zander."

I paused after reading it and the group members said all at once, "No."

Kind of cool, kind of freaky, and definitely frustrating. My group is awesome though so we stopped the reading and picked out a new name. I also made my daughter laugh last night. Did I finally write something humorous that someone else caught? Granted she then told me the thing that made her laugh made her think of a similar line in Supernatural and then something in The Walking Dead. *head shake* I love my geeky children. :)

Has a character ever given you this much trouble? What did you do to get him back in line?

Want a sneak peak at this draft?

Between the headache and my finicky stomach, I turned in the opposite direction from the hotel. I knew there were apartment complexes farther along this street. That meant bus stops.

My body ached and trembled like I had the flu, slowing my pace. With each step away from the garden it took more effort to lift my feet than moments before. Every blink flashed images of dark hair, a strong jaw line and shoulders draped with an expensive tuxedo.

Why can’t I get him out of my mind?

The breeze picked up sending shivers along my exposed arms and legs. The clouds had rolled in and everything took on that creepy pre-storm yellow-green glow. It faded quickly, and I was left in a premature twilight.

Thunder ripped the sky open. The first drops fell lazily. Big fat raindrops that normally would have made me giddy with joy. But not when walking down the side of the road in my most expensive dress. The lazy drops were followed by the shower. It only took three seconds for me to be soaked.

My hair dripped down my back and face. I pushed it out of the way and bent down to remove my shoes. It was time to run for it, but my blisters couldn't take the rubbing. The rain filled my mind and ears and I didn't hear the motorcycle until it was barreling down on me.

I jumped out of the way as the bike flew past me, and tumbled into the ditch on the side of the road. Gravel and brush dug into my skin as I rolled down into a growing puddle of water. Somewhere tires screeched and the motorcycle clattered to the ground. The driver ran down the embankment. His body blocked some of the rain from my face as he leaned over me and removed his helmet.

"Mo Run?" (NOTE: He explains how to pronounce this the first time they meet and he says it. It's mo rune)

"You?" I struggled to sit up and once more his strong grip steadied me. Strange thoughts flickered through my mind. Visions of me and him living happily ever after. I must have hit my head in the fall.

"Are you okay?" He pulled me to my feet.

“I’ve lost a shoe.” The one I’d been holding before leaping into the ditch was nowhere to be seen. The weeds didn’t look like they’d give it up anytime soon.