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Come with me on a journey...
I'm sitting in my office, end of a long day, kids tucked in
I click on statcounter - just for fun
click on keyword search (this usually gives me a laugh or two - people will search the silliest things)
notice my character names all being searched from the same ISP address
Why would someone be googling my character names?
I click on the little magnifying glass and see they are being googled from the same address in NYC
Do you know what this means?!
My novel, With A Name Like Love is on submission - someone in NYC is researching my character names
my character names!!!
Have you ever considered this?
I mean, googling your character names to make sure there isn't a conflict of interest somewhere? that your MC's name isn't the same as the mayor of Chicago or a convicted axe murderer or an adult film star?
Did you have a clue that, when your novel is being considered by a publishing house, they might do this?
Do you have your character names in any of your posts so you would know if an editor ever did this (that's the only reason it showed up on my statcounter -- good old WIP Wednesdays where I put in snippits w/ the character names)?
Tell me did you have a clue about this? Will you google your character names from now on? Would it change what you decided to name them? I'm telling you, I learn something new every single day of this writing journey. Amazing.
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35 comments:
Yep. I always do this with all my characters. :)
I do it with titles, but never so far with characters (that I can remember). It's an excellent idea. And what a neat treat for you to have uncovered!
never, even thought about it once. But I am sure thinking about it now!
Shelley
I don't give my characters last names! Seriously, every now and then a character will get a last name, but I have three projects where the characters don't have a last name. Go figure.
I'll have to google my next project in line to query (well, not for probably another year, but still) since all those characters received last names.
I had no clue editors/publishers did this. Though, I did come across a character in one of Miss Snark's First Victim's Secret Agent contest that sounded so familiar. I googled and sure enough, the character name was that of an actress. I made sure to let the author of that entry know that she might want to change the name.
Lastly . . . great, Tess, just give me one more thing I have to do! Ha! : )
S
I don't know how to do this! This statcounter thing you speak of. Help out a good friend why don't you?
I've not googled character names before. But I use fairly common names for characters. I try not to go too out there most of the time.
What I have googled: names of mythical species I've invented. Changed said names because one was the name of a motorcycle model but I can't remember the make of said model. I've googled the title of my first book. Nothing comes up that's relevant to my book so I think I'm good that way. (At least as far as conflict is concerned.)
Good luck wtih the book deal! I know it's coming down the pipeline soon. I just know it.
Karen: really? how very smart. Did you think of this on your own or did someone suggest it?
Janna: it was a treat. I love learning new things about this process - very fun.
storyqueen: glad I'm not the only one who hadn't considered this! Let me know if you find anything in your google search...
Scott: now that is very interestiing! no last names? I kind of like that idea - fewer hassles. clever you.
Suzanne: e mail coming, friend!
NWA: yes, I google all sorts of content of my novels as well, but hadn't considered names. And, you make up species? how super fun!
I did not and that is crazy! Wow. Crazy!
Yes, what is this statcounter thing?
I do, but this is a new thing... I found something awesome about the name I picked for my current mc. She makes me happy. I am a bit hesitant to look up the charactes from my last book because I love the names so much and don't want to change them. :0)
I had no clue about that. No clue. I've never done it before, but it makes sense.
I didn't know, but now I do, so thanks for the tip!
How exciting that your work is at this level of consideration! (Or maybe you knew that already.)
OK, my first thought was that's creepy. I guess i'd better google though...
I was clueless. Thanks for this nugget of information. I do google names, titles and other stuff, trying not to do what's been done or get into trouble. Once a crit buddy pointed out that a character in a newly-started novel had an actor's name. So I switched it.
Wow,though, I'm excited that someone is taking this kind of time with your manuscript. That is cool!
Wow. Add me to the I Was Clueless About This Group. I'd never thought much about this before. Heh. Lucky thing for me that most of my characters only have one name. ;-)
One of my character names rang a bell, so I googled it to make sure it wasn't a minor celebrity or friend from college. Then, I just started checking the others.
How exciting that an editor is checking!! That seems like a great sign. :)
I think I'm still geeking out about the fact that NYC is googling your character names/blog. Mind: officially blown.
This had never even crossed my mind.
BJ: that's what I thought - wow.
Kristen: statcounter.com just go to it, click on 'register new account' or whatever and sign up. Their basic acct is free! Then, after you sign up, you go back to it and click on under your name 'my projects' and the left side bar will have all sorts of facts about blog traffic. It's super fun!!
Joyce: it does make sense, doesn't it?
MG: I try not to read to much into anything these days -- it's out there on submission, but I don't really know exactly what level of consideration it is on. This could be good though, right? It's possible!
T.Anne: hehehe, that's funny
Tricia: an excellent nugget, I agree
Danyelle: And, aren't your characters mystical creatures and such? That makes it a little easier in this regard...
Karen: so many of you are so clever to have already considered this. very cool.
LT: you make-a me giggle. I'm trying not to read too much into it.
FictionGroupie: mine either!
One of them, who is periodically a frog, would like to think of himself as a mystical creature. O:)
For a past project I thought I had come up with the best, cutest name, and then googled it...same name as a risque lingerie model. Not so cute in the end. Good luck with getting your book deal!
Wow! I wouldn't have suspected this, but I think it's great that someone cares enough to do this for you, Tess! My character names are Bao and Nui Phamduong, so I'm not too worried about overlap at the moment. :)
Thanks, Tess! I really appreciate it!
Danyelle: ah, yes. I remember now.
Jessie: not THAT'S funny!!
Davin: great names, Davin. And, you are likely right, no worries about much overlap :)
Kristen: no sweat. carful, though, it's addicting :D
Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely be googling my character names from now on. I'll have to figure out how to work the StatCounter too though.
I'm shocked that you can use statcounter to see exactly WHO is looking up what. In fact, I'm confused exactly about what you did, but then I had a really bad night's sleep and am in Architect mode, as I have a meeting this morning. I'll try to understand again later.
Linda: great info isn't it? so interesting to me.
Amy: you cant see exactly WHO - but you can see WHERE
Holy crap! This is a great sign. I sense good news a comin'!
Oh Man! Oh Man! Oh Man! This gives me butterflies, imagine what it's doing to you?? Off to write some posts with my characters names in them. Hey, you never know... :)
I'm off to Google those suckers like pronto! And how exciting for you, somebody is looking into you!
Hmmm, I never thought of googling my character names. I don't know that I even gave them last names! But how cool to know that someone is checking up--it means they're interested, right?
I think they google everything. I'm not too surprised. And I really need a lesson in stat counter. Cool, Tess!
WOW ... how cool is that?!!!!!
how exciting!
No, Tess, I hadn't really thought about doing this with character names, just with book titles. I'm going to try it. That is really exciting! I don't think I'd be able to sleep knowing this was going on! Do keep us posted with any news!
I too love to take a quick sneek peek into what people googled for before they ended on my blog..interesting i must say.
~Silver
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