For Ever's names continued

For Ever's names (cont.):

Wren: I had a bit of luck with her name. When I started writing, I spent a lot of time looking at a baby names Web site. Looking for my main character's name, I happened to see that the "name of the day" on one of the sites was Wren, or "small bird." I thought of my character, unassuming but watchful and cautious around others. Then, when I found the last name Sullivan, it just fit. No specific meaning. It just was "Wren."

Alistair, Chasen, Audra, and Persephone: For all of Ever's immortal compatriots, I went straight to searching for names with particular meanings. We only meet Alistair briefly by the end of the book, but he is, for all intents and purposes, introduced as the front man. He's college age or a little older, and he appears to be a leader in the group (when in reality I see them as equals, despite their varying temperaments). The meanings behind Alistair seemed to lean toward "defender of the people," a concept I played with in the second book (see the spoiler after the jump). For Chasen, his name was pretty straightforward. It's a modern, more American take on Chase, meaning "hunter." No explanation needed. Audra, another American name, means "noble strength." I see Audra as beautiful, noble, aristocratic, unbending, and harsh. I took Persephone's name straight out of Greek mythology. She is a minor character in the first book, though I really played with her name in a way that becomes much more apparent in the second book.

Ashley, Josh, Taylor, Lindsay, and Marcus: For Wren's group of friends, the people who welcome her on her first day, I went straight to the U.S. Social Security Administration's Web site to find age-appropriate names.

Caroline: For Wren's mom, I did the same thing (the SSA's Web site). And again, her name just fit.

Iago: Well, that's a long story. If you want to read more about For Ever's eleventh-hour villain, it's probably best if you've read both For Ever and Never ...
I wanted Iago to show up toward the end of For Ever because for so much of the book we really don't know what Ever is. Could Ever be the villain? Or is he the good guy? Maybe he's somewhere in between? Then, after Ever's intentions get sorted in the first book, Iago -- who it turns out has had his name bestowed upon him -- really goes from being this nebulous villain to a more fleshed out (and humanized) character in the second. Side note: I spent a lot of For Ever and Never debating back and forth how fine a line to tread between good and evil. I landed somewhere in between and actually had to do some rewriting because I had in several instances made the characters too evil. The other question is: when did Iago become Alex? It happened pretty much right after I started writing the second book. He needed a name that he had chosen for himself, and his name is a French variation of Alistair. I think in many ways, Alex does see himself as a defender of man, albeit in a sort of twisted way. And in the end of Never, I think he really does earn that name as Wren's defender. What do you think?