Naming & Character Development

I've been asked how I come up with the 'perfect' name for my characters  and how I develop my characters.

As to the characters, I write down a list of who I need in each book, i.e. cop, bad guy, victim. Then I decide which is the ones that will interact the most with my main characters.  Those are the ones that get more development.  Most of this happens in my head, but I do put some of this in the story bible to remind me. Each character is basically developed in my head before I even start the story.

The names I choose from a baby book I have in my bookshelf near my computer. Each name gets said out loud until I happen upon the one I like best for the character.  I put the names down in the story bible next to who they are in the list (victim, bad guy, etc.)  And so they become that character.

Most of this is, as I said, done in my head,

I'm a pantser and I just write what comes to me.

Sometimes the storyline suprises even me.

I'll be writing along and suddenly the story takes a turn. I think what if this happens instead of this. And I write the new storyline and it changes the whole chapter or even the whole book. 

The 'What ifs'.

New scenes appear in my head. The characters even change a bit to fit the storyline.

All of my stories have been in my head for years so my subconscious has had time to develop these characters.  I have scenes for each and every book in my head.  The characters all have placer names like 'bad guy' for bad guys or Sara and Nick for every main character since I like those names. When I start writing that's when my characters get their names.

Names. Boys get boy names, and girls get girl names, of course. But most of the last names come from the boy section.  A lot of the time I flip through until a name catches my attention, then I build from it and deciding who it belongs to (victim or cop).  I usually have the bad guys name by the time I start writing. It usually has a meaning to it. Sort of like a spoiler. :)

Mostly by the time I'm ready to write, everything is already done in my story bible or in my head and I just sit down and write.