Actually, we have no idea what this says. Credit: Ursus (Wikipedia).

Even when you have lots of resources to find them, names can be hard to get right. One of my recent experiences was particularly nerve-wracking.

I’ve been planning my current project for Camp NaNoWriMo for a while now: a science fiction novel (what else?), and for a long time, my main character’s surname was Newman. But as I started writing seriously, I realized that was far to kitschy for a science fiction piece. So I changed the name to Adams in hopes that it would be a bit subtler.

Adams turned out to have two separate problems. First off, the constructions, Adams’s, Adamses, Adamses’, were just a little too awkward. That might have been okay on its own, but I soon noticed the second problem: I couldn’t write the phrase “Adams Family” with a straight face. So I sat on it for a few days. Finally, I decided to take a different tack and changed the main character’s surname to Franklin. So far, it seems to fit, so I’m hopeful that this one will stick.

Incidentally, my main character is not named after Ben Franklin, but there is another famous Franklin who inspired me to use the name. 1 Internet Point to anyone who can guess who it is.

My Camp NaNoWriMo project is going surprisingly well. I’m on schedule for the first time today, at 21,225 words.