What Would You Name this Puppy ?

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. ~William Shakespeare

Are you ready for a new contest to maybe win a book or two? I wanted to try something different this time. Don’t worry. We’ll do that Mystery Picture one when my new book, River to Redemption, comes out this summer. Got to have some mystery pictures for a new book. But it’s time to give away a few books now here on my blog.

So what’s the game? How about name the puppy? Or maybe on a different post, name the cat? Or the dog? Or who knows what animal?

It’s fun to name things. That’s something a fiction writer has to do a lot. Just think about all the characters in the books you read. If the book is fiction, the author had to come up with those names. I’ve published thirty some novels and have written even more than that. So I’ve done my share of naming people, places and animals too.

When it comes to naming characters, I use this baby name book I’ve had since I started writing novels. It’s falling apart. I’ve bought other name the baby books, but they don’t have the same creative triggers. Once I begin paging through my name book looking for the right names, my characters start coming to life. Sometimes the name I first go with is wrong and I have to find a new name. In the book I’m working on right now my character’s name is Darcy. Or is it Darcie? I’m still wobbling back and forth on whether the name is spelled with a “y” or an “ie.” I started with Darcie and switched to Darcy, but I’m about ready to switch back to Darcie. Maybe I should rename her Jane. 🙂

But it’s not only my main characters I have to name. There are secondary characters who need good names and then there are incidental characters who might only pop up in one scene but even those people have names. I used to keep a list of the names I used for my main characters, but I’ve let that slide lately. Now I just keep character lists for each individual book.

Plus I tend to drop a few animals down in my stories. If you have a pet, you know those dogs, cats, guinea pigs or whatever have to have the right names. That’s true if your fictional characters have animals in a novel too. I’ve named a llama (Cleopatra), many dogs (Maybe, Sarge, Poe, Asher, Zebedee, to mention a few), several cats (Miss Marble, Two Bits, Grimalkin, Sugar also known as Jezebel), a hen (Silky) and who knows what other animals. There were a few horses and maybe a cow or two.  (Maybe I should have had a contest match the animal to the book.)

So let’s have some fun with names. I’ll post a picture of an animal, maybe a dog or cat, maybe something else, and you can suggest the name you think fits. There are no right or wrong answers. It’s all in fun. Each time you leave a comment on a new post with a picture of a new animal, you’ll get an entry in a drawing for a couple of books. I’ll pick three winners. The prizes will be the winners’ choice of one of my books and a grab bag book by a different author. My shelves are spilling over with many great books by other Christian authors. Deadline to enter is May 12, 2018 at midnight EST. I’ll announce the winners on my blog either May 13th or May 16th. Mother’s Day might be busy. You must be at least 18 years old to enter, but feel free to get advice on those names from the kids. The most important rule of all is have fun coming up with just the right names. No purchase or sign up is necessary, but if you want to sign up for my newsletter, that would be great.

So what would you name the puppy in the picture?

Thanks for reading, and remember:

“Names have power.” ~Rick Riordan (The Lightning Thief)