Naming Characters

Finalised the names of my main characters and how? I lit a joss stick, placed it STRAIGHT in its holder on a tray, surrounded it with six chits with a combination of names and decided to go with the one that had the most ash on it (in the end). These were of course names that I chose, just a couple of extras floating around. The ashes, all of it, landed on one chit. I shall stick to these names through my first draft and make peace with them until then.

One thing so true about starting off is keeping away from external opinions, another trap that I have fallen into. I had one person insist that if your character is controversial, then he or she needs to have the letter 'R' in his or her name. It represents friction. Clearly.

The other problem is going with names that aren't true to the origins of these characters. In a forward world, where an English person could give their child an Indian name, or an Indian could choose a Muslim name, can you do the same with characters in your book? Not that I am changing my names now, but just curious. I would think you have to justify it at some point. Plus, preconceived notions do paint a picture in a readers mind. Wouldn't it be unusual if you were reading a book about Jane in India and on page 23 realised she is a Punjabi girl with nothing more to it. What do you think?

The next task is to finalise the final draft of my first chapter, if there is such a thing. It is still a draft. Will check-in when that is done.