Today I am excited to have Viv Daniels, AKA Diana Peterfreund, stop by to share a guest post with us in celebration of One & Only's release!
Guest Post: Name Nerd Alert
by Viv Daniels
by Viv Daniels
I am a huge name nerd. I read naming blogs and have books on names and spends
ages thinking about how to name my characters. I joke to my husband that I’m
lucky I’m a writer — I could never satisfy my need to name things just with kids
and pets and computers (my current computer is named Bucephalus) and cars
(Nikita the Hatchback). The naming of my child was a massive undertaking.
So when it comes to character names, you can be sure I’ve thought about it. A lot. Some writers just pick names that sound nice and I definitely want their names to sound nice, but I also have reasons for every name I choose. Here’s how I chose the characters’ names in ONE & ONLY:
Tess McMann: Tess was the first name that came to me in this book. I knew she was Tess almost before I knew anything else about the book. One of my favorite movies is WORKING GIRL, in which Melanie Griffith’s Tess McGill is a working-class girl trying to make it in the world of big business, though she lacks the pedigree and connections. I think my Tess has a lot in common with her — she’s desperately trying to be the kind of world class student that her own father doesn’t seem to encourage her to be. Her last name, McMann, is not only a subtle nod to the Tess McGill character, but also an in-joke. It can mean “Son of Man” and Tess is most certainly the child of an unidentified man.
Dylan Kingsley: I liked that Dylan was a sort of cool, contemporary name without being too far “out there.” It was a fairly popular choice for boys in the year Dylan would have been born (1992), which means you can picture a Dylan being the sort of nice, boy next door kind of guy he is. I have a cousin named Dylan who is around that age, and part of the large, close-knit family I imagine for my Dylan. Kingsley, obviously, is a nod to his heroic status. Unlike some of the men in Tess’s life, Dylan is noble and upstanding.
Hannah Swift: I liked that Hannah was a sweet and old-fashioned name. I also find it very elegant and refined, which describes Hannah a lot. Tess is a nickname, but Hannah is a whole name, kind of the way Hannah is a whole person, with no secrets and a defined place in the world. It’s softer and rounder, compared to the clipped, hard, and hissing sounds in Tess. I imagine Hannah was named for a family member, it sounds so old-fashioned (my own grandmother was born with the name Hannah). I like the idea she was, in fact named for a family member, because it means she has one more family connection, something that Tess has always been denied. Her last name, Swift, is of course, inherited from her father. There’s not much I can do about that. With her Dad (Tess’s father), it’s meant to denote his rather careless and cavalier stance toward his bastard daughter.
So when it comes to character names, you can be sure I’ve thought about it. A lot. Some writers just pick names that sound nice and I definitely want their names to sound nice, but I also have reasons for every name I choose. Here’s how I chose the characters’ names in ONE & ONLY:
Tess McMann: Tess was the first name that came to me in this book. I knew she was Tess almost before I knew anything else about the book. One of my favorite movies is WORKING GIRL, in which Melanie Griffith’s Tess McGill is a working-class girl trying to make it in the world of big business, though she lacks the pedigree and connections. I think my Tess has a lot in common with her — she’s desperately trying to be the kind of world class student that her own father doesn’t seem to encourage her to be. Her last name, McMann, is not only a subtle nod to the Tess McGill character, but also an in-joke. It can mean “Son of Man” and Tess is most certainly the child of an unidentified man.
Dylan Kingsley: I liked that Dylan was a sort of cool, contemporary name without being too far “out there.” It was a fairly popular choice for boys in the year Dylan would have been born (1992), which means you can picture a Dylan being the sort of nice, boy next door kind of guy he is. I have a cousin named Dylan who is around that age, and part of the large, close-knit family I imagine for my Dylan. Kingsley, obviously, is a nod to his heroic status. Unlike some of the men in Tess’s life, Dylan is noble and upstanding.
Hannah Swift: I liked that Hannah was a sweet and old-fashioned name. I also find it very elegant and refined, which describes Hannah a lot. Tess is a nickname, but Hannah is a whole name, kind of the way Hannah is a whole person, with no secrets and a defined place in the world. It’s softer and rounder, compared to the clipped, hard, and hissing sounds in Tess. I imagine Hannah was named for a family member, it sounds so old-fashioned (my own grandmother was born with the name Hannah). I like the idea she was, in fact named for a family member, because it means she has one more family connection, something that Tess has always been denied. Her last name, Swift, is of course, inherited from her father. There’s not much I can do about that. With her Dad (Tess’s father), it’s meant to denote his rather careless and cavalier stance toward his bastard daughter.
(Canton #1)
by Viv Daniels AKA Diana Peterfreund
by Viv Daniels AKA Diana Peterfreund
Contemporary NA Romance
November 8th 2013
Summary
One night they can't forget...
Tess McMann lives her life according to the secrets she's sworn to keep: the father who won't acknowledge her, the sister who doesn't know she exists, and the mother who's content playing mistress to a prominent businessman. When she meets the distractingly cute Dylan Kingsley at a prestigious summer program and falls in love, Tess allows herself to imagine a life beyond these secrets. But when summer ends, so does their relationship -- Dylan heads off to Canton College while Tess enrolls at the state university.
One love they can't ignore...
Two years later, a scholarship brings Tess to Canton and back into Dylan's life. Their attraction is as strong as ever, but Dylan has a girlfriend…who also happens to be Tess's legitimate half-sister. Tess refuses to follow in her mother's footsteps, which leaves her only one choice: break the rules she’s always followed, or allow Dylan to slip away for a second time.
...And only one chance to get things right
You can read my review of One & Only here.
About the Author
Her favorite new adult authors include Tammara Weber, J. Lynn, and Cora Carmack.
FAQ
Is ONE AND ONLY your first novel?
Actually, it’s my tenth published book, but the other ones were all written under a different name.
Why a different name?
Because these books are romances, I wanted my readers to know that any time they pick up a Viv Daniels novel, they are going to get an intense, emotional love story written for an above-18 audience. The name is a promise I’m making to you.
Where did the name Viv Daniels come from?
About a decade ago, I was working as a food critic in a small beach town and someone started passing around a picture of me to all the restaurants. Since I was trying to remain anonymous, I took to wearing a wig when I went out to eat. A romance novelist friend of mine, C.L. Wilson, thought it was the funniest thing ever and started calling me Viv after Julia Roberts’s character inPretty Woman. The name stuck, especially at romance writers meetings and conferences, and so when I decided to pick a name for my romance novels, Viv was at the top of my list.
Giveaways
There are two giveaways. One that my blog is hosting and one that is tour-wide.
Swag Pack Giveaway (hosted on my site, but provided by the author) includes: a One & Only bookmark, an assortment of gifts and books from Viv and other new adult authors, and a One & Only charm.
All my usual requirements apply. Please use the rafflecopter below. Ends 11/18/13.
Tour-Wide Giveaway (hosted by the author) includes several books and charms.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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