Fi Phillips

I enjoy naming my characters, both in my plays and in the novel I'm working on. Some of them come ready-named, introducing themselves to me in a way that they could never be altered. Others take some time to work out. Hartley Keg was one of the former. So was Blessing Hawkes. Cormac Moran, on the other hand, went through several names before finding the right one. In Naming your characters and settings , Roz Morris discusses the importance of name and how she finds them for her books.

One of the changes I have made (so far) in rewriting my novel for the 9-12 age group is to move the location of the attack on my protagonist. Originally, the attack took place in a deserted park which always felt slightly wrong. I think the problem was that I couldn't truly picture the park. In the latest draft, the attack has been moved to a derelict street where there is no apparent chance of help. I can see that street in my mind's eye. I can feel the roughness of the torn tarmac under my feet. I can hear the wind whistling through the smashed windows. It feels right. The Other Side of the Story has an interesting article on the same topic of settings - How your setting can affect your characters  - that is well worth a read. Have a look.