Character names vs real world laws

I’m not positive, but I think every writer picks character names a certain way, using the same method time after time. Perhaps they imagine what the person looks like and then search for a name that seems to fit. Have you ever been introduced to someone and you thought their name was going be one thing and it was another? Along the lines of “She looks more like a ‘blank’ than a ‘blank.’ ” Please don’t confuse “blank” here with “bleep!” Years ago, a guy I worked with always called me Dave. Whenever I’d correct him, he’d say, “Yup, okay,” then say, “See ya, Dave!”

Go figure. At least he didn’t call me late for lunch. Ba da duh dum.

Here’s how I decided on the name for my main character Tom Dunn: I wanted a one syllable last name, probably due to all the Bond movies I’ve seen. No, really, I do mean that for whatever it’s worth. After I came up with Dunn, I tried on for sound a variety of first names. I don’t remember now what they were (that was eleven years ago, folks), but here are some I imagine I came up with:

William (Bill) Dunn

Robert (Bob) Dunn

George Dunn

So you get the idea. In the end I liked the combination of syllables of Thomas Dunn, although he is most often called Tom, unless Pamela is pissed off at him.

My first novel, Operation Devil’s Fire ended up with 89 named characters! This led me directly to an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of them. I use that Excel file for many things, daily word count, plot, notes, and others. I just copy the whole file for the next book and add a column for the new book’s characters (like below - sd4). 

This way, I have all of my creations in one place, which keeps me out of trouble with using the same name, and prevents me from relying on my memory. Squirrel! (If you don’t know what this reference means, watch the movie Up.) Behind German Lines, Brutal Enemy, and book 4 (which I’m writing currently) have 51, 56, and 37 (so far) named characters, respectively. Since this is a series, there are lots of repeaters, but there are 167 distinct names across the four of them.

My Sgt. Dunn books are all set in Europe, so I have characters from these countries:

·         United States – 52

·         Britain – 37

·         France – 20

·         Germany – 44

·         Italy – 11

·         Japan – 3

Which leads me to an interesting article I read recently:

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/parents-have-to-rename-baby-judge-rules-109215771837.html

I guess it’s important to know what the laws are in your country. I confess, I never check for my characters!

  

Thanks for stopping by.

Ronn

Sgt. Dunn 4 writing underway!

I'm feeling a big sense of satisfaction tonight. After working on the plot for my fourth Sgt. Dunn novel for a month, I wrote the first 1,000 words. Only 92,000 to go.

Thank you to all my readers! Your support fuels my writing daily.

Ronn

Airbus A350s in flight formation, 2014 - B-17s in flight formation, World War II.

This is just spectacular to watch. Five Airbus A350s fly in formation. 

During WWII, B-17s and other Allied bombers flew formation all the time.

Writing goofs and choosing the right word.

Writing has its own special brand of troubles. Writers make all kinds of mistakes and typically, we call them typos, but sometimes they are just writing the wrong word. In speech, an example of the latter would be the famous spoonerisms.

I'm reading a book by a top-of-the-line best selling author and I found this typo: "had't." It happens, even to the best of writers. My trusted FIRST READERS know that I'm relatively consistent in leaving out "the" and "of" and a few other similar words. 

What happens when we speak or write is we just get ahead of ourselves and the errors slip out.

One of my favorite Mark Twain quotes kind of covers this mistake:

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

My favorite personal writing goof and, believe me, I've had many, is this one from my latest book, Brutal Enemy. Fortunately, I found the mistake during the first edit, and when I spotted it, I really did laugh out loud.

The wrong word:  . . . she shrieked as he dug his fingers into her side and tinkled.
The correct word: . . . she shrieked as he dug his fingers into her side and tickled.

The question is: was this a typo? Or just a brain fart where I heard tickled but wrote tinkled? I think the second because the c and the n have two other keys between them. Ha! Did you just look at your keyboard?

What are some of your favorites? Make a comment to this post. Come on, share with us. We won't laugh. 

Well, actually we will. But so will you.

Thanks for stopping by today.

The Sgt. Dunn novels photo gallery now on Pinterest!

I created a photo gallery for the Sgt. Dunn novels on Pinterest. In the gallery (boards), you'll find photos of places and things from the books. You'll find four boards, one for items that are common to all books, and then one board for each book for items specific to that book (or first show up in that book).

It took me longer than expected to get the widget working on this blog, mostly because evidently I need to read the instructions a little more closely. Turned into a sort of "duh" moment. Feeling more than a little sheepish, since I am an IT professional. Don't try this at home, folks!

On the plus side, it was quite a bit of fun gathering the photos. 

Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year!

I wrote the first sentence for the fourth Sgt. Dunn novel (sd4) tonight. Wanted to get it started in 2014, and it is only four days after publishing the third Sgt. Dunn novel, Brutal Enemy (12/27/14).

The new Sgt. Dunn novel, Brutal Enemy published! Available on Amazon.com.

The third Sgt. Dunn novel, Brutal Enemy, is now available for Kindle! 

Description

The third book in the popular Sgt. Dunn World War II action thriller series picks up right where book two, Behind German Lines, left off.

Colonel Frank Rogers, an American intelligence officer on the planning staff for the impending invasion of southern France, goes missing in northwest Italy. Sgt. Tom Dunn, recalled from his honeymoon, and his squad of lethal U. S. Army Rangers are tasked with the impossible: find and rescue the missing colonel before he is captured and gives up vital invasion intelligence.

Meanwhile, British Sergeant Malcolm Saunders and his Commandos parachute into Italy north of the impenetrable Gothic Line in an attempt to deliver a crushing blow to the German supply line.

While Dunn and his men race across Italy in search of Rogers, the rescue operation takes an unexpected direction. Suddenly, Dunn comes face-to-face with the brutal evil permeating the Nazis from Berlin to the occupied countries.

In Brutal Enemy, Munsterman takes the reader on a terrifying journey into Nazi occupied Italy with his trademark page-turner pace.