I hate naming characters. Heck, I hated naming my kids. I hate my own name. Or at least I did when I was a kid. Which is probably why I hated naming my kids, because I figured they too would hate whatever names were picked.

When I was a gradeschooler I always wished I was named "Rod." Now there was a name! In arithmetic class, when the teacher called on people, a name like that would've made things a lot easier.

"Who can tell me what 12 times 11 equals? Eric?"

Eric suffered agonies because he didn't know.

Rod wouldn't have cared.

It made it easier for me to write because all my protagonists were named Rod. As in "Captain Rod of the Space Patrol."

Now I waste hours going through lists, finding names for characters, because as much as I hate naming them I can't start writing until I know what they're called. Mary just temporarily calls them "Joe" and plunges ahead. I'm sure all her characters hate her for that.