Unknown fact… character names are the very last thing I choose when outlining a story. Sometimes the name changes while the story is being written. A lot of times, I’ll just use whatever name seems like it would fit the story at the time of writing. That’s why a lot of my side characters have similar names in different projects 🙈 something I realize whenever I reread a story.
I’ve become more mindful of this naughty habit. By looking up names and purposefully not selecting names that sound like I’ve used them before in any of my 30+ projects, I’ve avoided this mistake. Names are still the least of my concern with a story unless the name contributes to the story in some way. Or I purposefully select the name. And that happened when I named my FMC Lauryn James’ name in my upcoming story, Wrath.
**Trigger Warning** – mentions of gun violence and sexual assault.
I summarized the premise for Wrath long before I even wrote book one (Pride). But during the spring of 2022, I knew Wrath wouldn’t be a story I had reason to dread writing anymore. Wrath grew into a story I became heavily invested in telling.
My husband and I were in the middle of a conversation about a topic I can’t remember (we talk about a lot of things). He brought up a point that was relative to a news story he came across that day that he eventually shared with me.
He said he came across a post online about a teenager whose stepfather murdered her. He only had those minimal details because he said he only read the headline, but the mention of the situation hit me in the heart and sent me searching up the news story. And searching up that news story started a weeklong dive in, into the story.
Lauren was the name of the sixteen-year-old(?) girl I read about. How her tragic story goes is, her mother traveled out of town for work and left the girl home with the stepfather. Now I can’t remember if the mother and the stepfather were married, but he was living in the house. And according to the mother, before the incident, the stepfather treated Lauren like his daughter, so I supposed that was one reason the mother felt comfortable leaving her daughter home with her spouse so she could travel for work. When the mother left town for work, and left Lauren home with her stepfather, almost immediately, the stepfather began acting strange. Shortly after her mother left the house to travel for work, Lauren called her mother to tell her that the stepfather was acting strange, and Lauren was begging her mother to return home to help her because his behavior was scaring Lauren.
Eventually, police were called to the residence, and when they arrived, the stepfather fatally shot Lauren. I didn’t read any confirmed reports, but reporters said officers suspected he assaulted her because Lauren’s pants were down when officers entered the property and found her body.
**End of triggering content**
Lauren’s story rocked me to my core. I don’t know why I felt such a draw to this story, but I did. And as soon as I read about it, I wanted to rewrite her story. I felt compelled to do it. To sort out a different more favorable outcome. I feel people’s experiences deeply so maybe I felt compelled to brainstorm a better outcome as a coping mechanism? Because I didn’t know this girl. She lived and transitioned in a part of the country I’ve never been. And yet, her story touched me from hundreds of miles away. Touched me so deeply, my heroine, who was only a personality and summary on a page for a story, immediately became a flesh and bone FMC.
And her name is Lauryn James.
You’ll get to know Lauryn and Asher, wrath and patience, and our characters in Wrath, individually in the next couple of blogs.
Wrath is book six in the Love is Cure, Vol. 1 – Vices & Virtues series. Wrath is available now for pre-order.