Got to share this again, Deborah J Miles’ book Orchard View still sends the literary shivers when I think about the character Etta Franklin’s story… I am not so secretly hoping that Deborah writes another book, but I know that a lot of her time is taken up with her fantastic blog Against the Flow Press. Deborah is a supporter of indie authors like me and has just worked super hard on the #DecTheShelves promotion that took over Twitter during the Christmas run-up.
Orchard View also made it on to my Christmas gift list this year – Father-in-Law is a big reader.
I will shut up now and let Deborah J. Miles tell you about her character names:
I ‘accidently’ wrote my novel while I was taking an online writing course through FutureLearn. A friend and I were doing the course together, really for something to occupy us while she was recovering from surgery. During one of the exercises in the course, the whole story just came to me. I kept it in my head and typed out chapter after chapter.
Bill Maynard was my first character. The name just seemed right for the character. I needed something short and to the point as a first name, hence ‘Bill’, and somehow ‘Maynard’ followed. It occurred to me after I’d finished writing that ‘Maynard’ is a surname which appears on my family tree, and ‘Bill Maynard’ was also the name of an actor.
My second character was the house itself, Orchard View. House names often refer to their location or history, such as Sea View, Hilltop, The Old Rectory, and The Old School House. The house was so named because it once overlooked an orchard.
My next character, Etta Franklin, was created by borrowing the name of a lovely lady I knew as a child. I loved the sound of the name ‘Etta’ which I realised must have been the shortened form of Henrietta. Etta needed to have standing, so ‘Henrietta’ was a suitable name, but she also needed to be likeable, and ‘Etta’, to my mind, is a much friendlier name. I used the phone book to choose her surname. I opened it at random, and pointed to a line on the open page, which as it turned out, contained the surname ‘Franklin’.
Norma Parker is the street busybody or Nosy Parker. I thought it apt that she should be called ‘Parker’. Her first name, ‘Norma’, was the name of an acquaintance from many moons ago who had some of the attributes I wanted for my character. Her nosy ways have her labelled as the ‘Neighbourhood Witch’.
As the story developed, and I added new characters, I found that if I could imagine the character, their size, stature, traits and personality, then a name would occur to me. I suppose I am drawing on memories I have tucked away about people I have known in one capacity or another, such as from family history research, celebrities, friends etc… There was only one I changed; Maeve became Mae because I felt Maeve didn’t convey the softness I was looking for in this character. Mae seems to be a favourite with my readers too.
She has worked in banking, tourism, education and social services, and has hosted international students for over 30 years.
Her interests include: genealogy, self-improvement, home computing, web design, D.I.Y/gardening, pen friends and writing.
Deborah is independently published and created the imprint Against the Flow Press for her first novel, Orchard View.
Blog: http://againsttheflowpress.blogspot.co.uk/
Twitter @DeborahMiles7,
blog: https://againsttheflowpress.blogspot.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deborah_j_miles/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/
Think I put Deborah’s blog on twice… make sure you don’t miss it!
Links to buy Orchard View :
Well, that was awesome, big thanks to Deborah J Miles for guesting on my last post of 2019. It’s been a blast!
Onwards!
See you next time, when William B. Taylor and Helen Gerrard tell us about their illustrated children’s book The Bee Polisher.
Happy New Year, reading, writing, and everything love Samantha xx
Samantha Henthorn Finds The Right Words 