This question is from beta reader Kristi Davis:

Q: What did your kids say to you when you first got published?

A: What a sweet question! My kids, who are now 15, 18, and 21 years, have been watching me write fiction at all hours of the days, nights and weekends for nearly ten years now. I think it seems normal to them. So, on the day I got my book contract, I hung up the phone in my den and turned to my then-13 yo – who was lounging on the couch the way all 13 yo’s do, with his body slung over the seat and only his hands at attention on his phone keyboard – and said, “Oh my God, I just sold my book!”

I think his exact reaction was “Cool” (with a quick glance up from his phone).

Deep sigh. …

But since then, all three of my kids have expressed mostly pride.

Although none of them has read my book (they’d all rather die, I’m sure, than read anything their mother has written regarding love scenes), they did all post pictures to Instagram on the day my first box of books arrived from my publisher. A few weeks later, they all took pictures of me in random Barnes and Noble stores posing near my book (once even in Missoula, MT, and once in Salt Lake City, UT), and they all feel the need to rearrange the shelves in the bookstores whenever they see it so my book is visible. They’ve all written me Mother’s Day or birthday cards that go on and on about how proud they are that I followed my dream, and made it come true. My daughter even called me an “inspiration.”

Nothing could be better.

This reader question and answer originally ran in my June newsletter. If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, and get all the posts mailed directly to you, sign up here. We also do monthly giveaways and have “sneak peeks” at chapters from upcoming books. Have a question? Send to laurenchristopher [at] live [dot] com!

This reader question and answer originally ran in my April newsletter. If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, and get all the posts mailed directly to you, sign up here. We do monthly giveaways and have “sneak peeks” at chapters from upcoming books.

This question is from my book club friend (and also new beta reader) MaryAnn Perdue:

Q: Is there a special process you use to name your characters?

A: I get all my names from a baby name book by Laura Wattenberg called “The Baby Name Wizard.” It not only gives a list of hundreds of names, but adds nicknames, variations in spelling, possible brother and sister names (which I use!), what eras the name was popular (you can’t give a born-in-the-80s, 30-year-old hero a popular 2014 name!), etc. It’s such a fun book.

My heroines’ names were all predetermined years ago (because they are sisters and mentioned in each other’s books — I said somewhere that their mother loved France, and that she gave her daughters all French-sounding names — Giselle, Lia and Noelle).

But my heroes’ names I come up with for each book, based on the personality I want them to convey. “Fin” was a strange choice, I must admit, but it suited the quiet hero I had in mind for The Red Bikini. “Evan” is a name I always liked, and had the sharp “v” in there that sounds tough to me, so it worked for my tough, cranky sea captain in Ten Good Reasons. I’m currently writing my first “nerd hero” for Book 3 and named him “Elliott.”

Secondary characters are actually a little harder. You don’t necessarily need a name you “like.” You simply need a name that can convey quite a bit about the character simply by the name. Since you have so few words to develop secondary characters, names go a long way. The name might signify the era the character was born, the probable social status of the character, the region of the world the character was born, etc. For secondary characters, sometimes names just jump out at me. “Fox” and “Tamara” in The Red Bikini did; “Kyle” and “Dennis” in Ten Good Reasons did. But other names — like “Rabbit” and his real name “Henry” in The Red Bikini and like “Cora” in Ten Good Reasons — take me some time. For those, I usually pour a tall glass of wine and flip through my Baby Name Wizard book (sometimes several nights in a row) until I land on a name that sounds right for the person I’m picturing.

So far I haven’t worked my way through all my favorite names, but I’ll probably come to readers for advice in a few more books!

I also wrote this post in 2011 called How To Find Good Names for a Character that gives actual tips, if you’re writing your own book!

Have a question? Send to laurenchristopher@live.com. It’ll probably be featured in the next newsletter!

This reader question and answer originally ran in my May newsletter. If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, and get all the posts mailed directly to you, sign up here. We also do monthly giveaways and have “sneak peeks” at chapters from upcoming books.

This question is from my book club friend (and also beta reader) MaryAnn Perdue:

Q: How do you do your research before writing a book (to learn about surfing or whale-watching or whatever the book features)?

A: I do spend a lot of time on research! For The Red Bikini, I had to learn a LOT about surfing! I don’t surf myself, so I was learning from the ground up. (Or would that be “the sand up”?) However, I do live in the middle of one of the surfing capitals of the world — Orange County, California — so it wasn’t hard to find friends who surf (as well as my hubby, son, boss, director – I talked to everyone who I knew owned a surfboard, which is a surprisingly huge number of people).

Additionally, I watched a lot of movies and documentaries (Endless Summer, Step Into Liquid, etc.) for some of the history and inspiration for some of the characters.

And I read my husband’s subscription to Surfer magazine cover-to-cover EVERY MONTH FOR TWO YEARS! Ha, ha. Yes, that’s right. Every. Single. Month.

That alone might have been the greatest source because the feedback was so natural and constant, over a two-year period. I learned a lot about the everyday surf culture, the way pro surfers live and travel, their most common backgrounds, the way they feel about the industry, the type of music they listen to, the way they talk to each other. It was fun.

My next book, Ten Good Reasons, features a whale-watcher, and that involved a whole ‘nother year of research. I’ll tell more about that soon!

Have a question? Send to laurenchristopher@live.com. It’ll probably be featured in the next newsletter!