IWSG - Words and Wine

It's the first Wednesday of the month and time for another meeting of IWSG (The Insecure Writer's Support Group). This is the brainchild of the awesome Alex J. Cavanaugh and, in his words, has the following purpose:

"To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!"

To find out more or join in, head on over here!

I, along with  Beverly Stowe McClure,Tyrean Martinson, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, are co-hosting this month. 

This month's question is (and answering is not obligatory). . .

What's harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?

Every time I expected a child...

Huh, worded like that, it sounds like I had tons of kids! 

Restart!

A few months before each one of our four children were born, my husband and I headed out to a Gaststätte, that's the German term for a quaint, more rustic type of restaurant, ordered something delicious (obviously), and drank a wine while jotting down all sorts of girls and boys names which we might want to bind to our future child for the rest of its life. In Germany, there are actually laws surrounding the names parents are allowed to give their children, so that does narrow down the list a bit. 

We weren't allowed to name our kids lovely things like Sunshine, Blue, Precious or anything else not fitting to a usual and acceptable name (either in English or German). 

I found it unfair, not that I'm the kind of person who would really name their kid Rainbow or anything. Still. . .

Luckily, character names don't fall under such regulations. Even in Germany.

In any case, after two wines, we always had narrowed down the list to two names—one for a boy, one for a girl (we always loved surprises).

And that was it. 

When naming my characters, I'd need at least a dozen glasses of wine. Some names fall from the sky right away. Others. . .  not so much. Let's just say that those name search sites and I have become very good friends. And yes, I would name a character Ice or Sunflower or Boat...hmmm...I better jot those down for future books.

Now, let's look at titles. These are an entirely different story. They drop into my lap like they were always intended to appear there. Often times, I even know the title before I have a real plot. 

And how many glasses of wine does it take to work out a plot. . .

Let's just say I've been blessed with a husband who enjoys making wine. Lots of it.

What about you? Are you a character name guru? Or are you a title genius?

Or do both leave you scratching your head???

I've been informed that not all comments are being posted or showing up below. If this is happening to you and you'd really like to say something, I can only suggested using a different browser (and hope it works). I've been fighting this problem for several months now, thought it was solved, but obviously, it's back to the drawing board!