characters and names

hello mrs.phyllis naylor ur books are amazing i really love shiloh i was wondering how do u come up with all those charecters and all those names.

I think a long time about each character–what he or she is like, and what name to give each of them. It depends on where they live, boy or girl, the age, etc. and I try to make all the names different from each other so the reader won’t get confused.