Character names are an amorphous art. Sometimes names jump into your mind without any real idea of where they came from. Some are ghosts that flit through your subconscious. Others are the result of knowing someone who had impact on your life, either for good or ill.
Names, as Harry Dresden would say, have power. For someone to know your actual name, the real way you think of and pronounce it in your head, is for them to discover intricate portions of your personality.
Writers often have full control over their characters. But, more often than not, characters define themselves as you go along through a story. Depends on how you write, of course.
For me, names pop into my head without me really knowing where they come from. Tony Downs, for instance, is one of those instances of serendipity that I can't really explain. Daniel Keller. Roland Whithers. Jess. Jackson. These are all names that just dance into my mind without any real rhyme or reason.
Now, Scott Sigler has a ritual. He likes to kill his Junkies. When you register on the forums, he even asks if you've died in one of his books or short stories. I've noticed that some junkies have been killed more than once. That's a pretty good schtick. I like it.
So when twowire made a donation to my site, he said he expected to be killed in an upcoming story. He was kidding, of course. But I decided that would be pretty cool. Although, I'm going to do MUCH worse than kill him. You'll see. Twowire is going to be the first "experiment" in my endeavors to "thank" those who pimp my site and love my work.
Therefore here are the rules. When you make a donation to ShadowPublications.com, your name is eligible for use in one of my tales. Either send an email to
stories@shadowpublications.com or put in the payment notes that you would like your name to be used:
- As a character name (non victim)
- As a Fiend victim
- As a street name or other location name
- Fiend Name
If you don't specify that you would like to be in the stories, I promise not to sully your identity or associate you in any way with my work.
The Fiends collection is really coming together. There are three stories under construction and those will be the last of the Fiends collection for a while. Therefore you have to commit pretty soon.
Once Fiends is over, I'll move onto the
Garaaga's Children collection and start all over again. And, of course, when Tony Downs rears his head again (at least 2 new short stories AND two novellas), the drive will continue.
If I don't get enough donations, guess I'll just have to start nailing registered users on the site. But, my patrons come first. So there you go, people. Give me some bucks, and I'll immortalize you. Register on the site, and you'll have a chance to be immortalized.
Questions, comments and concerns should be directed to
stories@shadowpublications.com. And thanks to Brent Caudle and Pons Matal for kicking off the donations. Have a great friday. It's time for me to get back to "Tattoo" and do something nasty with Pons.
Cheers.
