Discover in this post …

• what to do when name generators and baby name sites just aren’t cutting it.

• the sneaky way your brain might be using "the perfect name" to stall your writing.

• powerful questions to help you move forward in your story—whether you find the perfect name today or not.

"I Can't Write until I Have Her Name"

A client of mine recently asked me if I'd ever considered writing a blog post on character names. She was struggling to come up with the perfect name for the female protagonist in her latest fantasy novel. The name had to be right because it would end up in her novel's title and would have a special meaning.

For those of you thinking, "Use a baby name site!" or "Use a character name generator!", she had already tried that. (And for anyone experiencing a similar issue, that's an excellent place to start.)

But what do you do when you care deeply about giving your character the perfect name, but nothing seems right? This issue was affecting my client’s momentum! She told me, "I can't write until I have her name."

If you can relate, that’s the exact topic I’ve chosen to dive into today—but I'll warn you now: you might not like my answer.

Challenge Your Belief

Some of you already know I'm all about getting to the root of what you're thinking when you're experiencing a problem in your writing life. Your thoughts, rather than your circumstances, direct your results in life. (Yes, I will die on this hill. If you’d like a deeper exploration of the productive writer’s mindset, you can save this former post of mine to read later.)

So if the underlying belief is "I can't write until I have the perfect name for my character," what's the result?

Bingo. You guessed it. No writing accomplished.

As you'll soon see, though, I'm not disagreeing with the need for a fitting name—I'm just questioning the timing.

When you feel frustrated that the perfect name is eluding you, I would challenge you to ask yourself, What's more important to me overall: moving forward in my writing or selecting a name?

If you answer "selecting a name," and you love your reasons for that, great! But if you're prioritizing getting words on the page, yet all you have by the end of the day—or perhaps the week—is a list of names you don't like, ask yourself, "Is it true that I need to have a perfect name before moving forward in my writing, or is my brain trying to trick me?"

Our brains love to trick us. Have you ever noticed it’s one of their favorite hobbies?

They like to push thoughts into our head like "You're a failure if you don't meet your writing goal today" or "Your novel needs to be perfect or else it's totally worthless and should never be published."

Rather than ignore what your brain is telling you, it's best to address it:

• Brain: "You're a failure if you don't meet your writing goal today."

• You: "Actually, I just had my highest-ever writing streak of 25 days in a row. That's a cause for celebration."

____________________________________

• Brain: "Your novel needs to be perfect; otherwise, it's not worth publishing."

• You: "Actually, thinking my novel needs to be perfect is detrimental to my process. If I truly thought that, I would move forward so slowly I would never finish my story."

Fun, right? You get to be the "actually kid” (everyone had one of those in college, right?) and respond to your brain in a way that shows you know what's best and won't be led off track so easily.

Another question you can ask is "What would it look like if I pressed forward without the name? What's the worst that could happen?"

Then play out that scenario in your mind. Does it involve getting words on the page? Then you're probably in the right place.

Sometimes that’s the issue in itself—that we can’t fathom moving forward at all without the missing piece. But what if we use a placeholder, a name that’s close to the effect we’re going for but not exact? It's temporary, but it will do the job and give you what you need to keep writing.

Rest assured, you can move forward with a placeholder, even if your brain resists the idea.

It's easy to assume that every thought our brain offers is true, but that's exactly where the danger lies. And it's up to us to recognize that and take action to combat it.

Summing Up

I have nothing against name generators—use them to your heart's content. But when the problem goes deeper and prevents you from making progress in your story, it's essential to address it.

Ask yourself the following questions to help:

1. What's more important to me overall: moving forward in my writing or selecting a name?

2. Is it true that I need to have a perfect name before moving forward in my writing, or is my brain trying to trick me?

Then focus on a new thought, one that promotes momentum and progress. Something like “I can keep writing my story with a placeholder name, and the perfect name may present itself along the way. I don’t need to obsess over it right now.”

This happens more often than not, by the way. In writing the story itself, you’ve chosen to stay actively involved in your novel’s world, and thus kept the gates of creativity open. The name that has been eluding you for weeks might suddenly pop onto the page, and if it does, it’s not random or lucky—it’s because you made that active choice.

So whatever you do, don’t let your pursuit of a perfect name stall you on your writing journey. Keep writing no matter what. You can even use the name search as a reward (“If I meet my writing goal today, I get to spend twenty minutes afterward hunting for a name”).

And when you finally find that perfect name, you’ll have two reasons to celebrate: one for the name itself, and one for all the progress you made without it!

I purposely didn't outline particular methods for choosing character names in this post because I believe all methods are valid. With this topic, it's more about the mindset than the strategy. I hope this post helps you move forward in your writing instead of staying stuck searching for the perfect name. Who knows—maybe that name will appear right in the middle of your story. And when it does (or if you decide to move forward without it), I’d love to hear about it. Feel free to email me at [email protected] and let me know!

Do you want to learn how to write a story that makes your target readers stand up and cheer? If you’d like support from A to Z (from brainstorming to drafting to revising to publication), book a Discovery Call with me to see if you’re a good fit to join my book coaching program, Fantasy Footsteps: Road to Publication. And if you haven’t done so already, grab your Free Guide on how to hook readers from your story’s start!