Note to Self

Don't use medieval surnames (smith, cooper) in combination with unusual (or made up) first names. There aren't enough reasonable sounding 3-5 letter names to go around. While a John smith wouldn't be remarked upon even if two unrelated books both had one, the current book I'm reading has a main character and her two best friends with names remarkably similar to ones in books by three other authors. I know that you don't want every Elizabeth to be a 'Liz' or a 'Beth', but there's no way that you'll come up with a unique contraction of it, and it's quite possible that a last name that sounds appropriate to you also did so for someone else.

Further note to self: countermand that if doing something that's actually historical.