IWSG: What's My Name?

The first Wednesday of every month is the Insecure Writer’s Support Group bloghop. It's a day where writers/bloggers reach out and post their fears and doubts about their writing, but also share their triumphs, no matter how big or small.

The biggest issue I have this month is one I've struggled with for as long as I can remember, and that's time. I know most of us struggle with the time issue. We try squeezing seconds out of our busy lives to write a chapter or two, or heck just a few sentences would be great. But I don't want to talk about the time issue today because it so often comes down to prioritizing and re-evaluating personal goals. What I do want to talk about is something that's been bugging me lately, and that's the name game. I'm usually pretty good at naming characters. However, ever since I started writing this sci-fi  story, I can't, for the life of me, seem to come up with a good name for my main character. It's gotten to the point where it's become a mental block. I'm having a hard time writing freely without her name. 

Why? *shrugs* 

I know many of you refer to certain characters as "The Bad Guy" or "Sexy" in your writing until you find a real name. But I can't even do that. I have a few pages where I refer to my main character as XX, but that just hurts my eyes and distracts my train of thought every time I see it. 

So how do you guys settle on names? Do you have a technique, or does it just come to you somewhere between morning coffee and the evening sherry? ;)

Other than that, hope everyone is happy, healthy and writing. :) 

Have a great weekend all.

**********

Thank you, Alex Cavanaugh for another great bloghop. And a big thank you to all the awesome co-hosts this month! 

To find out more about the IWSG monthly bloghop or the IWSG website, click the links.

Is Your Blog Title LAME?

                                                                       I know mine is.
                                             What about your post titles?

I noticed the importance of a good blog title during the A-Z Challenge. In the beginning, I'd go down the massive list of participants one by one, but was easily distracted by other titles more interesting. Some were funny and outlandish while others were very intriguing. Even blog titles written in all CAPS lured me to their sites. Unfortunately, blogs named after someone I don't know simply didn't grab my attention (nevertheless I did visit many and glad I did). That's when I started thinking about my own blog title: Elise Fallson. Not funny, intriguing or entertaining. It's not even a cool name, so why the heck would anyone want to click on my blog based on name alone? I'm not Stephen King, Anne Rice, or any other published author for that matter and have zero name recognition. You know nothing about my blog or what I do based on the name alone. Maybe what I should do is add a subtitle after the name, something that would give a little insight to what the heck I do over here. Something that's also catchy like:


                             Elise Fallson: Writings of a Left-Handed Monkey


                                 Elise Fallson: Will Work for Publication


                                          Elise Fallson: Naked Writing


                                Elise Fallson: [Insert your suggestion here]


                                                         Maybe I should put it to a vote?! :P

Note: Please do not get offended if your blog title is simply your name. My criticism is directed at MY blog alone. I've visited many blogs titled after someones name and they've all been much cooler sounding than mine. *tiny violins start playing* 

So I think for someone like me, being just another name on a forever growing list of aspiring writers, I need a title hook. If you have any suggestions let me know! (: 


The same goes for post titles. I'm following well over 200 blogs right now it's a bit overwhelming. And as time goes on this list will grow but time dedicate to reading posts will not. Therefore, a catchy or intriguing post title WITH a picture becomes more important as I scan my selections in blogger. Not only do post titles have to grab my attention, but being the visually oriented creature that I am, I'll need pretty pictures too. Don't look at me like that! I'm just being honest. (though none of this of course applies to the few blogs I check daily). 

So what do you think, are blog titles that important to you? What about post titles? What are some of your favorite blog titles you've come across?