All too often I come across names in stories that don't seem to fit. I don't want to point out which characters in what stories fall into this category, but I do have admit that choosing the right name is vital. I'll be completely honest when I say that Rowling could've come up with better names for her heroes than Harry and Ron. I think they're just too average. Hermoine is great. Dumbledore is great. Hagrid I love. The side characters in the Harry Potter series have better names than the main characters. Interesting, huh? Now, there's probably a lot of people who will think I'm being blasphemous, because they don't want anyone to pick on their beloved Potter series. Hey, it's just my opinion. I think the creativity process needs to happen from top to bottom. Harry and Ron are not creative names. Fantasy is a horse of a different color. If you're going to have names like Minerva, Sirius and Tonks, then you've got to do it for your protagonists as well.

Finding a good name isn't easy, either. I struggled for a while to come up with the names in my books. One writer said I could have regular names like "Joe" in my series, too.  In fantasy? In another world? Sorry, but "Joe" just doesn't fit the bill for a world like Elvana. You have to be careful with names, like anything else, when you deal with fantasy. If you use somethng ordinary, that is used in everyday life, then it has the potential to pull a reader out of your world and make your story seem less real. Good places to come up with unique names are: maps, phone books and by combining words.