What's In A Name? A Story.

One of the most fun parts of writing a story is coming up with the names of the characters. And sometimes a whole story can come from a name.
I recently came up with a story when I was thinking about a woman's name I remembered hearing once. I won't give the name; I'll just say that it's one you rarely hear. I envisioned a character with this name and imagined where she lived and when. I came up with a set of circumstances that surround her and how she handles them.
She has a new love interest. I created that character, giving him a name, occupation, and his life circumstances. I thought of how they meet and spend time together, and what hurdles they face in their relationship. I made up the whole story, starting with just a name that I find interesting and beautiful. I created a character and story I thought were befitting of that woman's name.
Sometimes it's not easy to think of names for characters. I always want that perfect name for the main character, so I may end up changing the name a couple of times before I settle on it and start writing the story. I like to give the characters closest to the main character names that I think sound the best with his or her name.
Sometimes I think the names I give the main characters in my stories just sound like they fit the character's personality or occupation. Grace, the younger daughter in my story Fragile, is a sweet, selfless young woman who cares for her ill mother. And I thought the name Alex Wexler (a law student in my story Kissing A Frog) sounded like a lawyer's name. The names for other characters, no matter how small a part they play in the story, are just as important to me, and I put just as much thought into them.

I had a detective in my story The Curse of Seti whom I wanted to have an Eastern European sounding surname. I was thinking of something like Kovach , Kovacic, or Kovac; I was unsure of the spellings. I found people on social media with the last name Kovac, and one of them was a Lenore, so that clinched it. The detective's name became Andy Kovac.

I don't rely on social media unless I'm really having trouble with a last name. I chose the last name of the family in one of my stories from some comments I was reading. It's kind of like randomly choosing a name out of a phone book, another resource I've used to get the spelling of a last name.
For first names, I'll use names that I like, and every once in a while, the first name of someone I know, but not for a main character, if I can help it. It's just a thing I have. Some of my characters only have first names, like Emily in The Curse of Seti. I actually did give her the last name Sullivan, but then I left it out of the story. It seemed to complement the mystery of the story, and her friends and co-workers weren't given surnames.
I've written a couple of stories where the characters have no names. It kind of takes the fun out of it, but puts more focus on the message of the story. I like to give the reader a chance to reflect on the character's thoughts and feelings as though they are their own, without someone else's name attached to them. The character is anyone, or everyone. Maybe it's someone you know.

Storied Backstory (All The Things I Meant To Be)

"All The Things I Meant To Be" is a story about love, loss, and not taking anything or anyone for granted. It is a story of a man coming to terms with his fate, looking back on his life decisions, and making one last effort to get things right.
If you asked me who my favorite character in my book of short stories is, I would say Brian Mitchell without hesitation. He is the first character in "Storied Existence" that I created. That was around twenty years ago. I originally wrote the story back then as more of a screenplay idea. To make it a short story, I cut a few characters, and spent a little more time working on how Brian's memories of his father Daniel play into the story.
In the original story, I made Brian a bit more of a jerk in the beginning. He had a couple of run-ins at his job in addition to having already fallen out with his brother, Scott. I cut that down to just his unapologetic stance toward Scott after "stealing" his girlfriend. The girlfriend, Alison, is a confident woman who knows what she wants. I wanted to give Brian someone who would ambush him, get him to loosen up. I imagined Alison as someone who could make him laugh and get him to stop being married to his job. I didn't really have a good grasp of the breakup unfolding, so I started the story with them already being broken up.
Brian and his mother, Connie, are like best friends. Both Connie and Alison factored into the rift between the brothers. I saw Connie as someone completely devoted to her sons, always putting them first. Just an all-around great mother, who raised them alone after her husband's death, Connie worries about them and doesn't give a thought to her own happiness.
At the beginning of the story, Brian's personal life is a mess. He's also thinking about his father, whom he lost too soon, and as the story goes on, it becomes about unresolved issues and Brian's feelings of inadequacy. He sees Daniel through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy. Daniel was like Super Dad. I just thought of him as someone intelligent, adventurous, good at everything, and cool, with a big heart, who is a hero to his sons. Being the child of a single mom myself, I was inspired by uncles and great-uncles, and motorcycle-riding father figures I've known. I added little things in at the last minute, like the family dog, because, well, of course they'd have a dog!
In "All The Things I Meant To Be", I saw a father and two sons, the differences and similarities between them, sibling rivalry, reflection, and forgiveness. Brian grapples with his mistakes, and his feelings for Alison, the woman he let walk out the door.
I cried for Brian as a writer. I wanted everything for him. I tried to give him his father back in some ways. And I injected just a little bit of mystery into the story.
A fun side note to the story is that I took the title from a CD by a band called The Affordable Floors. Though they are from Pittsburgh, that's not why I set the story there. I just like Pittsburgh.