Well, hi! Thought I’d take a peek out of my writing cave to chat with y’all and share some of my writing process.

Mainly: I am wildly indecisive with names. Something that’s tricky in a series where half the characters are named in Book 1. Naming characters is one of the most fun parts of writing, but, well… sometimes I struggle.

Fun Fact: More than half the time, I change at least one lead character’s name within a week of publishing.

Some examples:

Deacon’s last name was originally Meltzer. In Real Love, Fake Marriage, you’ll notice it’s now Blake.

Layla? She started the draft as Lola… but then I thought too much about Lola Bunny and opted to switcheroo.

The Kent family? Started as the Kennedys, which was changed because, well, there was another family by the name… can’t remember what series it was but they came up before. I wound up changing it to a superhero-inspired name (no Wayne’s though!).

Winning You Over had my most name changes to date. The kind chef who looks out for Tori went from Ross to Angelo because I didn’t want it to get confusing with Rose. Her *charming* boss (who I can happily say was not inspired by any bosses of mine!) went from Mr. Bambrillo, which sounded too much like bambino (Italian for a male baby) so I switched to Manzo, which means ox (and also sounds like stronzo, which is a much more on-the-nose name). 

Noah was stuck with his name, but I actually had to change it halfway through drafting because I started working with a “Noah” and that was blocking my creative flow [insert sensitive artist jokes here]. I proceeded to write the rest of the manuscript with Jonah, and then changed it back after. And Tori herself?

She started on the page as Beth.

And that brings me to Rose, our loveable all-gossip-knowing girl. Like my first line suggested, she was actually named Clara for most of Making You Mine. At the end, though, as I fell in love with her character and was excited to write her own book, I went a little less Nutcracker and a little more ballbuster. (Well, specifically one Kent brother’s balls…)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed a little peek into this fun writing process. And if there's any names you think I really got right (or wrong) let me know! If you wanna put any "super cool/hot/fun" names in the idea bank rather than leaving me to my own devices, well, I'm down for that too... you may just find they turn out to be a protagonist a few books down the line.

For Landon and Rose’s book, both of them are stuck with their names, so this may actually have the distinction of being the first book with no character name changes.

Plenty of name calling though... *wink*

If you’re not caught up on Juniper Cove, check out the series below. I’ll be talking to you guys again soon... and I just might have some surprises along the way.

See all the books here!

Lots of Love,

Vesper Young

P.S. All my full-length novels (including this one!) include some kind of a bonus scene… if you haven’t checked them out, you can find them on my website at http://www.vesperyoung.com/free-stuff