Once upon a time ...
No.
I press the enter key a few times and start typing a bit lower, I don't usually delete anything I write. Who knows, it could be useful, at some point.
Ok Adam, what are we trying to do here?
A guy. What's a good placeholder name?
I think for a minute.
Evan?
Not terrible, I'll look up its meaning and popularity later.
Anyway, Evan is rich.
I think about that, no, that name doesn't strike me as the businessman type. His parents can be rich, he'll just be lucky I guess.
Except, he won't be lucky, not if he's never worked for anything in his life(which would likely be the case with rich parents) and has everything handed to him on a golden platter.
That's only good if you're a child, and only 5 minutes after that if you're not. It can't be a lifestyle.
In the interest of keeping this a likely-to-occur-in-reality situation, Evan is depressed. He has to be with a life like that, plus it lacks purpose. What is life if you don't work for anything?-
Life. That's what I'll call it.
That can work, I store that in the back of my mind. Great, there's the main character now, why not give him a brother? A cute little brother, a 5-year-old. Seems like a good age. I will name him . . . what would go well with Evan? I glance down longingly at the crisp but dark screen of my phone, sitting a mere three inches from my hand.
No, no research whatsoever while writing/brainstorming.
I had already promised myself that. It's a sure-fire way to kill any inspiration I might be able to get my hands on, and even if it doesn't, there's just something so tempting about scrolling endlessly down into just how many minutes it takes to drown- about 2 for a small child- then just how fast another person would have to be to save them, then you're looking up how to revive them so you can properly describe it and by the time you have everything figured out, you don't even remember why you were doing it in the first place, and, if you're me, the day's been wasted.
I don't have multiple bursts of inspiration. I am given one, two tops. It could happen any time and I had better be ready to write it down, me being so graciously blessed with the memory of an empty box of crayons, when it came to ideas. I sigh, slide it into a drawer, and try to forget it exists as I turn back to the locked browser of my laptop screen. For me, it doesn't need to be impossible, just difficult. Difficult enough that it's no longer in my best interests to even try. So if I lock my screen and make it so that I'll have to put in a long password three times just so I can get to google, I'm more likely to just do it myself, which, thankfully, results in way more writing time.
Back to the name, what is a good name that is not only short enough to fit the character but can also go well with Evan?
Ethan?
No, that's too close.
Brian?
Not that either. That sounds too much like a curly-haired dirty blond boy who gets into trouble for no apparent reason, nothing like the child I have in mind.
Adam.
Adam would be a good name. It's intelligent, mild-mannered, has that overall good guy vibe. The only problem is that I hate seeing my name in writing, especially in my writing. It messes with my ability to tap into the different characters and think like them. If I can't do that then I can't make it so that the whole book doesn't sound like one person having a conversation with themselves.
