We've all heard of the PORN STAR NAME generator, right? Where you combine the name of your first pet and the street you grew up on. Mine's Muffye Hilton. (Yes, I am the lost Hilton sister.) Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Here are some more fun name generators (stolen-- er, borrowed frommanydifferentblogs) along with my answers.
1. ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet’s name, current car) Muffye Blazer (also a trendy jacket style)
2. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) White Russian Milano (die hard Who’s The Boss? fan)
3. STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Chi Te (from the planet Ralds VII)
4. NASCAR NAME: (first names of your grandfathers) Jeff Perry (wait, that really does sound like a NASCAR name?)
6. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (5th grade teacher’s last name, major city that starts with the same letter) Hepner Honolulu (does this come with a toupee?)
7. HIPPIE NAME: (what you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Yogurt Willow (huh?)
8. SOCIALITE NAME: (silliest childhood nickname, town where you first partied) Bugs Boulder (more like a 1920s gangster)
9. "FLY GIRL/BOY" NAME: (first initial, first two or three letters of last name) T. Chi (an ultra-hip meditative martial art)
10. BARFLY NAME: (last snack food you ate, favorite alcoholic drink--non-alcoholic if you’re underage) KitKat Appletini (moonlights as a Bond girl)
11. ROCK STAR NAME: (favorite candy, favorite musician’s last name) Jelly Belly Jones (first album: 50 flavors of soul)
12. SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name, street you live on) Lynn Eldridge (12-time daytime Emmy nominee)
13. GOTH NAME:(black, pet’s name) Black Bubbles (champagne of death--one sip will be your last)
15. ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (“The” + favorite hobby/craft, favorite weather element + “Tour”) The Writing Wind Tour (would you buy tickets?)
If you read this post, then consider yourself tagged. What are the names of your alter-egos? If you blog this then comment here to let me know--I totally want to read it.
I’m in the middle of a revision haze (only 6 days left!) and succumbing to the call of P.C. and Kristin Cast’s MARKED, but I have time for a Quickie Top Ten (aka a really easy blog post). There's always time for ice cream. (Or is that, There's always room for Jell-O?)
Here, in no particular order (except 1st) are my favorite flavors:
Sadly, Ben & Jerry retired White Russian to the flavor graveyard back in 2002 (yes, I’m still pining) with no current plans to reinstate. A while back they had a Raise A Flavor contest, but White Russion didn’t make the cut. (Seriously, who voted for Wavy Gravy?). They have a "Resurrect My Favorite Flavor" form on their website. If you love me even a tiny bit you’ll put in a request for White Russian. Sigh.
Okay, gimme the scoop (ha ha). What’s your favorite flavor? And what would you do if the sent it to the flavor graveyard?
During a recent interview week on the Buzz Blog, fellow Buzz Girl Marley Gibson asked me what made me want to write stories for young adults. My answer at the time? I didn't. Not consciously, anyway. I just happened to come up with a story idea that needed a high school setting, and OH. MY. GODS. and my career were born. But as I sink deeper and deeper into the world of teen fiction, I find myself never wanting to leave. Why is that, I wonder? What is so appealing or welcoming or fulfilling about writing for teens? Here's what I came up with:
1. Relive Your Youth
Whether you have fond memories or terrifying nightmares about high school, writing about teens gives an author the chance to relive those emotionally-charged times. And the best part? You get to cast yourself as the hero! Because writing--at it's best--is a deeply personal experience, it is inevitable that the author's own experience will play a major role in the story. In high school I was: a) a varsity athlete, b) an honor roll student, and c) a middle rung on the social ladder--not popular, not unpopular, just... there. It comes as no surprise that my protagonists are often athletic, fairly intelligent, and occupy a nebulous level of popularity. It's what I know, so it's what I write.
2. Peter Pan Syndrome
Or, more appropriately for someone of my generation, Toys 'R Us Syndrome. I don't wanna grow up. I like reading CosmoGirl, Seventeen, and Teen Vogue. I like watching movies about popularcliques, dramaqueens, and cheerleaders--evil or otherwise. I like trying on crazy glitter makeup and painting my toenails turquoise and thinking about (but not actually getting) pink streaks in my hair. And most of all, I like reading and writing about girls who are still in the process of figuring things about because, even at my rapidly advancing age, I'm still not there. Judging from the number of old adults (the opposite of young adults?) I've seen in the teen section at my local bookstores, I'm no the only one holding on to a youthful spirit.
3. Sky's the Limit
There is an interesting dichotomy in writing for teens. On the one hand, they will be the first to call you on anything you try to pull over on them--whether it's moralizing your story or arranging for an adult to save the day or having a character act in any way incongruous with their history or with the world they inhabit. On the other hand, they are the most willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, to buy into the world you create--no matter how crazy or convoluted--so long as you make make it believable. They are willing to stick it out with you for far more pages than any adult would.
UGLIES -- 448 pages
TWILIGHT -- 544 pages
HARRY POTTER #5 -- 896 pages!
4. Love of Language
I'm stealing this directly from Scott Westerfeld. In a CBS promo video about EXTRAS, the fourth book in his UGLIES trilogy (yes, I know that seems contradictory), he talks about the teen audience and their love of language. Check out the video:
He makes an amazing point about the evolving relationship between teens and language, and how that translates into the form of ever-changing slang, an appreciation for the writing and reading of poetry, and the memorization of song lyrics. This goes along with what I said earlier, about liking to read and write about characters who are still figuring things out. In the same way, teen readers are still trying to figure out how to express their experiences and emotions through language. That's why grown-ups can never be up on the latest slang, why the teen vocabulary is constantly changing, and why when teens find a book that expresses a part of their lives they devour it--and any subsequent books in the series or by that author--and embrace it.
A good book can connect with a teen.
A great book can change the way they think and speak.
That is the true power of a book, the true power of writing for teens. With this audience, you have a green light to make up words, to create an entire language, knowing that if you hit the mark, some of your made-up lexicon might become a part of the teen everyday vocabulary.
This week I feel like a mini-trendsetter. After I posted my review of Scott Westerfeld's amazing book, UGLIES, on my MySpace blog (where I post all my book reviews, btw) a couple more UGLIES mentions cropped up.
