Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Goody’

What’s In A Name?

Mrs. Publicist: Whoa! Past the time in the month where Peter Abrahams (aka Spencer Quinn) and I discuss a character name from one of his novels. How about Queenie, who handles half the narration of RUFF VS. FLUFF, first in the new Queenie and Arthur middle-grade series?

Pete: First, may I say adults with fake ID can also read the series, coming in March 2019? For fake ID, please contact the appropriate bot. As for Queenie’s name: Every morning she sips up some fresh cream from a white, gold-bordered China saucer (served by Bertha, the cook at the struggling Blackberry Hill Inn in Vermont). What else to call her but Queenie? The name was the very first thing that came to me when I began dreaming up the series.

Mrs. P: Is it true that one day there’s a bit of a problem with the cream?

Pete: Shh! That’s in book 2. We’re not there yet.

Mrs. P: Thanks, Pete! See you next month for another edition of What’s In A Name. Maybe a character from THE RIGHT SIDE? Goody, perhaps?

Pete: Perhaps!

What’s In A Name?

Mrs. Publicist: Fifteenth of the month, when we discuss – if we remember – a character name from Spence’s work. Pete (which is what I call Spence), you’ve mentioned that you can’t write a character until you have the name. But what about the dog in THE RIGHT SIDE?

Pete: Very astute! When the dog first appears in the story, she has no name.

Mrs. P: But did you know the name from the get-go?

Pete: I did not. In fact, not until the scene where the dog gets named – by Harvey, Marci’s first husband, who knows how to make the piercing two-fingers-in-the-mouth whistle that gets the dog to come running. LeAnne hasn’t felt the need to give the dog a name, but there’s something proper about Harvey – and he thinks one up. I was thinking it up at the same time!

Mrs. P: And you and Harvey chose Goody.

Pete: We did. It doesn’t suit her at all, but by the end of the book it couldn’t be anything else.

Mrs. P: As readers will discover. Thanks, Pete, in your Spence role. See you next month for more of What’s In A Name!