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An author of fiction gets to discover characters.  (I could say "invent" characters, but I feel that they are already out there and I discover them and listen to their voice and their story.)  One of my favorite things about characters is naming them.

A name comes to me very early in the writing process.  I don't think hard about it, I just accept it, and the more I use it, the more it fits.  It is extremely rare for me to change someone's name once I find it. 

The names in the family of Anke came to me as I wrote about them, right at the beginning.  All except her father.  Very odd for me, but he didn't have a name until almost my last edit. It isn't actually used much, but in the end he needed a name as part of a statement his power. Dr. Laren Feld.

Anke's name is one I thought about early on, after writing the first ten poems and believing this could be a novel.  I love the feel of ahn-keh in my mouth. This character needed a name that was not too strong for the start of the novel, and not to plain for who she was to become.

Anke's mother was named Anne, and this name is presented mainly as a description of Anke herself.  Anke calls her mother "mom" with a small m.  I wanted to show her mother's passive role, her lack of power.

Yaicha is a name I always thought was beautiful as a kid, and it really did come from a song by the Pousette-Dart Band.  By giving Anke's sister a beautiful name (to me as the writer,) I could imbue this mean and sad sister figure with some love, and it didn't have to come directly from Anke.

Darren's name is one of those that simply came to me. I think I originally named him Aaron and then didn't like the similarity to Anke's name.  At the moment of deciding that, "Darren" popped into my head and stayed there, with very little thought behind it. When I looked up the name Darren, my favorite website said "the meaning of this name is not known for certain."  I think Darren is a bit mysterious to Anke, and the sound of this name suited his focused nature and it stuck.

Thalia Chaltas, Because I Am Furniture, Viking Children's, Penguin Books