The Author Note in The Governess's Guide to Marriage reads:
For a long time, I’d dreamed of writing a secondary character who didn’t let poverty stop her from living life with zest. Someone with a tarnished heart of gold, and who could make the world a better place—even if she had unorthodox methods that would land anyone else in deep trouble.
This character briefly appeared in To Win a Wallflower but she didn’t have a name. I didn’t plan on letting her go. When the Tyner family ancestry was being discussed, I heard, and loved, the name Ella Etta, and I couldn’t forget it. Now my wanderer had a name, and I brought her back in Compromised into Marriage, and now again in The Governess’s Guide to Marriage.
Many names of the past have fallen out of favor, but sometimes when I hear an old name, I'll wish the name would make a comeback. I admit, it's difficult having a name people are unfamiliar with, and I understand that it's often easier for a child to have a more common name.
So for now I'll try to make note of the unfamiliar names I hear from the past, and perhaps I'll decide again to use one in a novel. At least the character will never have to repeatedly spell their name for people...or will they?
For a long time, I’d dreamed of writing a secondary character who didn’t let poverty stop her from living life with zest. Someone with a tarnished heart of gold, and who could make the world a better place—even if she had unorthodox methods that would land anyone else in deep trouble.
This character briefly appeared in To Win a Wallflower but she didn’t have a name. I didn’t plan on letting her go. When the Tyner family ancestry was being discussed, I heard, and loved, the name Ella Etta, and I couldn’t forget it. Now my wanderer had a name, and I brought her back in Compromised into Marriage, and now again in The Governess’s Guide to Marriage.
Many names of the past have fallen out of favor, but sometimes when I hear an old name, I'll wish the name would make a comeback. I admit, it's difficult having a name people are unfamiliar with, and I understand that it's often easier for a child to have a more common name.
So for now I'll try to make note of the unfamiliar names I hear from the past, and perhaps I'll decide again to use one in a novel. At least the character will never have to repeatedly spell their name for people...or will they?
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