Random scrivenings from my writer’s notebook

Writers have to be the kind of people who look closely at the world and what’s going on around them. We must develop our writer’s antennae and constantly tune in to the odd, poignant, and startling details.

Here are a couple of notes I collected and noted in my writer’s notebook during a recent trip. I’m always looking for good names and scored with two in one flight.

Entry one from my commonplace book:

“Good character names: Pink Wilkerson. Short for Pinkney.”

I picked this name idea up from the man who sat next to me on one of my flights. (Oddly, I happened to be writing in a pink notebook, but I digress.) My seat mate introduced himself as he took his seat. I found out he was named after his grandfather, who went by Pink. It wasn’t until many years later that he found out from family history research that his grandfather’s name was actually Pinkney. I immediately knew that I would use his name someday soon for a character in a children’s story.

Entry two from my notebook:

“Deja – name of a flight attendant. Deja Vu! Could I use it carry symbolic meaning in a story? Greek meaning from Hercules’s wife Deianeira? Look up all meanings of ‘Deja.’ ”

Some names are so good that you could start with the name and build a whole character and plot around them. “Deja” just might fall into that category.

For more ideas about character names, read this post, “Breathe life into characters with the right names.”

What have you observed and noted recently in your commonplace book?