Paige Shelton | Wait...I Thought Her Name was Hope?

Have you ever read a book that contained a main character whose name changed part way through?
Well, if you haven’t and you’re a big reader there’s a chance you’ll still come upon this
phenomenon. Other things too, eye color, hair length, etc. It’s one of the bizarre things that
happens when you’re writing a story. A detail will change on its own – yes, on its own. Wait. The
writer is in control, isn’t she? There’s typically only one person at the keyboard when the
characters and chapters are being born, so it must be the author’s fault, right? Or what about
the editor’s fault? Shouldn’t we blame them? A character made up of only words on a screen can’t
possibly have a shape shifting superpower that blinds everyone to its changes.

Well, that’s technically correct, however . . .

That thing that takes over and makes the changes isn’t any sort of fantastical creature, but
there’s something mystical – or at least mystifying – about the spontaneous evolutions, and
sometimes it feels like magic is at work.

Characters change. Maybe there’s a revelation, or a turning point, and suddenly they become
different. However solid they might have been in the writer’s mind, something in the story or
setting changes them so profoundly that there’s no going back to seeing them how they used to be.
It’s a vague explanation but that’s why writers miss the difference. Even though they go back and
edit the book again and again, there’s no way for them to see the person or the detail they
created any other way than the most recent way they exist – their true from, in the writer’s
mind. That’s what happens to some editors too – they get in the middle of the transforming moment
and they can’t go back either.

So, why doesn’t that happen with readers? Why can reader catch even the smallest differences when
all the previous read-throughs didn’t? I think it’s a couple things. One, readers are smart. It’s
a pretty general statement, but I happen to believe that if you read you’re smart. Not saying
non-readers aren’t smart, but just a being a reader is one of those indicators that is pretty
reliable most of the time.

The other reason is because readers are reading with fresh and eager eyes that don’t want to be
critical; they just want to enjoy. It’s always interesting what you discover when you aren’t
looking.

And, of course most editors do catch these errors, but even the best of the best aren’t perfect.
So far, I’ve yet to have one of these blunders published in my books, but that’s only because the
problem was caught before it got too far. I’m up to five catches, or maybe we should call them
interceptions. That tallies up to five gigantic ‘thank-yous’ to editors and five moments of ‘oh,
that would have been bad.’

But, mostly, it’s five exuberant and relieved ‘phews.’

Thanks for letting me stop by today. See you in the bookstores.

About Paige Shelton

Paige Shelton was born in Nevada, Missouri, but wasn’t there long.

After a childhood full of many moves, and high school and college in Des Moines, Iowa, she landed
in Salt Lake City, Utah. There she met and married her husband, had a son, and worked at a
variety of advertising-like jobs. She can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be a writer
and loves every moment she spends with her characters and their mysterious ways.

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