Tuesday 21 April 2015

Blog. One of my new favorite words.


When one starts blogging it is important for one to introduce ones self and even more important to stop talking in the third person. Before we begin I want everyone to do this. Picture the Queen of England standing in front of you. Now slap her and say, “Stop talking in the third person!” Good, now that’s over with here a few things about me.

One of the first things my publisher asked me is if I was going to use a pen name. I thought about it then decided, with a name like Montgomery Thompson who needs a pen name? Names are a crucial part of a story. Still, I thought something cooler, especially for the kids’ books, would help with name recognition. I noticed that there are a lot of kids’ book authors who use initials; J. K. Rowling, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, R. L. Stine and such, so I tried it. M. J. … naw, how about M. T.? That works but then I’ve used my last name up. I have to come up with another last name. How about M. T. Bucket? Switch the spelling perhaps to ‘Bukkit’. I can picture a few kids giggling over that one but then why not just go with an entirely fabricated pen name. There’s Yowanda Reed, or  Eileen Tufar. Ah heck, with a name like Montgomery Thompson, who needs a pen name.

W is the most attractive letter.

Two of my favorite words to stretch out are: spoon and llama.

My favorite character name is : Barv Tweezman. Even though Barv is just an incidental character in The Shielding of Mortimer Townes I may focus on him at readings. I’d like to challenge kids to find him in the story. I really want to hear their definitions of his job title; what does Mr. Tweezman do exactly? Of course the most fun is going to be reading their stories involving Barv and his off-camera escapades.

I have no favorite song but my favorite chord is C.

I write when I drive. Long drives are when story ideas come in the form of questions. It could be passing by an abandoned house and I think, who lived there? Why did they leave? Do they still own the house? How many people has that house known? Maybe it used to be a farm. An old farmer and his wife, but not just any farmer. He’s an educated, sophisticated man who keeps everything tidy. The heart of goodness lives in him. Hmm, sounds like a superhero. But now he’s very old. What happens when Superman gets old? An indestructible old guy? Now that’s funny, but not very plausible. I like science fiction, almost anything can be made plausible. Like, how did the old guy become indestructible. Aliens of course! Why would they make an old guy indestructible? Now we have a story.


So there are a few things about Montgomery Thompson. Why anyone would be interested is beyond me. A writer buries themselves inside their writing. The archetypes they use are metaphors for the kind of people they like and would like to be.