Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Ms. Oxley’

What’s In A Name?

Here’s a new feature that will appear the fifteenth of every month. In theory, because you’ll notice this isn’t the fifteenth of any month yet discovered. It popped up on Chet’s FB page yesterday but will be here first from now on.

What’s In A Name, Part One: A couple of days ago reader Michael Morrison asked: “Speaking of ‘A Fistful of Collars’ where did a female banker named Oxley come from? How does a writer come up with names?” Ms. Publicist asked Spence about it.
Ms. Publicist: What about it, Spence?
Spence: Names are very important to me. That’s where I start with every character. I can’t write them without the name, and it has to be the right name.
Ms. Publicist: How about we go through the origins of some of the names in the Chet and Bernie series, say once a month? Let’s start with Ms. Oxley, Chet and Bernie’s bank manager, who’s mentioned once in the series so far and hasn’t yet appeared.
Spence: But may. Ms. Oxley is one of those names that suggests the character – kind of like Nurse Ratched without the cruelty. Not warm, a stickler for the rules, judgmental – exactly the kind of bank manager Chet and Bernie don’t need. When we were kids my brother had a friend surnamed Oxley, who actually wasn’t Oxleyish at all. The name just popped into my mind when Chet, for some reason, started in on the bank manager subject. The passage begins at the bottom of page 155.
Ms. Publicist: Thanks, Spence. See you next month, when the subject will be: Leda.

Today’s the 100 anniversary of the birth of Muddy Waters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hEYwk0bypY

Welcome Elliott, settling in to a nice new home.