A couple times after releasing Frost someone asked how writers come up with character names in novels. I assume for every author it’s different, but for me, it’s generally one of three things.
Some of them–like Amy Frost and Arnold Dooley–were just there the whole time. The name is one of the first character traits that forms in my head, and the rest of the character forms around it, and it doesn’t change once throughout the process.
Some of them–like Tonya Katz, or Todd from Emails from Heaven–I develop to suit the needs of the character. In my head, I know exactly how someone named Todd would look, sound, and act, and those things are what I was trying to get across with that particular person.
And some of them I simply steal from elsewhere in my life–a song, a TV show, or a real person I know. That was the case with Mary Anna, Amy’s best friend. It came from this song by the Wood Brothers:
It’s got nothing to do with the actual lyrics; i.e the Mary Anna in the book isn’t based on the Mary Anna from this song. I just like the name, and it seemed like a good one for a best friend.