Well, the die has been cast. I’ve started reading and revising the early drafts of my novel. The story is an unabashed epic at this point, one of those archetypal hero narratives, which makes writing dialogue a unique challenge. I’ve diplomatically decided to avoid any “thee”/“thou”-type pronouns, along with any verbs ending in “-eth.” What can I say? It’s for my readers.
Scanning my old drafts, I’m finding veins of usable material, some of them pretty deep, running through slabs of extraneous matter that needs to be chipped away. I don’t mind the mining process, though. Here’s a stand-alone excerpt that will give you the flavor of the novel to date.
Death comes in white, sometimes. The only black is the earthen grave, surrounded by the snow and sky. I lay the body of my departed in the ground, and will not say his name. I WILL NOT SAY HIS NAME! Spirit, sky and men, bear witness. I will not mock him with a name, forgotten as you stand. Your eyes have seen a hundred die, your ears close at the muffled cry of “Death.” And this is as it should be. Those who did not know him, forget the man, but not the grave. In spring, you’ll see the mark, and know, and remember where his spirit flew. You will weep, but not remember, and I will not say his name. Only I will remember. I, [ name of protagonist ].
The skeleton of my story is mostly in place, and I’m trying to add flesh as needed, honing the muscle tone at the same time. Strangely enough, I made a lot of progress (ten years ago) on this thing without being really satisfied with my protagonist’s name. Several cognomens have come and gone, none really satisfactory. This seems like one of those crucial details that should be settled early on, rather than, say, as the book is on the way to the printer. So if you have a somewhat tragic-heroic name that’s burning a hole in your, er, tongue, go ahead and let me know. Maybe you’ll earn a place in my acknowledgements page.
Names that will not be considered: Beowulf, Aragorn, Arthur, Gilgamesh, Aeneas, Odysseus... You get the idea.
6 comments:
Well, of course the most obvious suggestion would be Mathias, but I think I won't make that an option :)
If I dared, I would write a novel in which the protagonist's name would be K., as in Kafka's novels. Would be very, very intesresting to elaborate on loose ends in his literature. Kafka is probably one of my top three favourite writers.
My imagination is poor right now, so I can't come up with any suggestions for you, though. Perhaps later on.
Having read your blog for awhile now, I would have thought "Phog" or "Wilt" would be the obvious choice.
Cheers.
Thanks for the leads. I'll take a look at the 'strong baby boy names,' Sherry.
And yeah, Mathias is a pretty cool name. I can understand the reluctance to put it on the market.
Then there's Sherman. I guess this is what I get for opening up a delicate subject to the general public. Only Sherman's status as long-time reader saves him from a really painful reprimand. Just the same...
KU 85
MU 63
Russell Robinson and Brandon Russell hold Thomas Gardner to a mere 14 points off 6 of 28 shooting. Ha ha ha.
Sherman, I hope this will teach you a valuable lesson about the respective places of athletics and aesthetics.
AJ, I bow in your general direction. Just wait till I'm coach, though.
Cheers.
"name of protagonist" is probably the best name ever. Also, look into "betrayer of protagonists who redeems himself in the end."
I love that photo, Arie... stay tuned to see my version of the "sky lit barn." Assuming it's not in Colorado or something, maybe we should make it the subject of our next photo expodition.
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