The Shielding of Mortimer Townes Book Trailer

What's in a name?

I consider names to be of primary importance in a story. Just look at Harrison Ford. What if Han Solo was named Mike Mansfield, or Indiana Jones was actually Steve Donaldson. No offense to Mike Mansfield or Steve Donaldson but those names don't really have the kick necessary for an action hero.

In Mortimer Townes I had a lot of fun with the names. The setting makes it necessary to tweak things a bit. After all it all takes place on another planet that is similar to Earth as is the time period; similar to Earth's 1960's. So the names needed to be similar, but still unique. In the story there is a boy named Chalo. Some folks may be able to recall a TV series called Happy Days. Well Happy Days had a character in it called Chachi. Some may argue that this character was the ultimate spin-off cheese of that era, and I would have to agree, but it was the archetype that I was going for in the character of Chalo. He's a bit too sure of himself and maybe a bit shallow. So I got a Chachi, but he's a bit shallow...see where I'm going with this? 

The example of Chalo isn't a hard and fast rule. Sometime I just make up a name from scratch because it sounds funny. One of my favorites is Shanti Shar. My partner used to have a dog named Shandy. He was a blond wrecking ball. Change the gender and you get Shanti. Maksey is also the name of my adorable niece and Spencer is my nephew. Shaley is a name that is kind of like canned lunch meat, I actually have no idea where it came from. Mortimer's wife Aga is actually the name of a premium quality, old style cooking stove - go ahead, look it up. They're really nice. Bosco Sharf is a play on words. My old Bass player used to call the local cops 'Bosco' from the abbreviation on their cars. So 'Bosco Sheriff' became Bosco Sherf, though in Mortimer he's an Army recruiter. 

The more obvious a name is, the more it takes center stage. The annoying military liaison antagonist is called Pom Debry. I could have called him Drone Strike but I'm saving that one for when I write a story about past US vice-presidents. Chugtang is a throwback to the 1960s space program. All of us kids used to chug Tang. Mim is obviously mom,  and Pal Tember is friendly and tall - 'timber!' (Yeah I know. It's not very creative). Seargent Bemis is kind of gross. It's actually the name of a toilet manufacturer. Halkus Moore is twist on a description. I wanted a 'hulking man' so I initially switched some letters around and got Halking Moon. You just don't name a character Moon, unless you're Frank Zappa of course (no offense Ms Unit). And finally we cone to Mortimer Townes. 

The best ones are inexplicable. They come from guardian angels I think. I'm one of these writers who believes that the good stuff is more channelled then created. I know my brain, and clever though I can sometimes be I am also the one who leaves my hot cup of coffee in the refrigerator when I'm making breakfast. 'Honey...have you seen my coffee?' The story started with Mortimer. My partner thought it sounded like a Sherlock Holmes kind of character, and truthfully she was right. But Mortimer was already cast as a loveable old farmer. Who knows what Mortimer was up to in his younger days. A detective for Scotland Yard might not be such a stretch though I’d have to do something about the agency’s name. Kiltie Lawn perhaps?

Release the Mortimer!

Happy dance done - check.

Celebratory slice of chocolate fudge cake eaten - check.

Online scramble to post release notes to my billions of social media followers - check.

Okay, it seems that Mortimer has officially been released! 

http://bigworldnetwork.com/site/series/theshieldingofmortimertownes/

The first handful of episodes have been recorded and are waiting their turn for the weekly posting on the BWN site which leads me to an idea. Maybe now is a good time to offer a little insight into the process. What exactly happens behind the scenes to release a book? Of course, I can only answer that from the authors perspective. My editors would probably tell the story a bit differently, but on my side of thing it starts with an email from my editor. After she has chopped the book into twelve episodes she sends me one episode at a time. There are two documents; one has all the changes highlighted with the editor's comments in the margin. The other is called a 'clean' copy. If I like all of the changes and don't make any more myself then I use the clean copy as a script. From there I sit down in my little studio and record the voice tracks.

It took a while to develop my technique for the voice tracks, and by technique  don’t mean my questionable narrative talent. I'm referring to the sound engineering part. I have separate tracks for the intro music, intro voice and episode number. You may notice that the introduction voice sounds a bit different than the normal reading voice (the narrative). That's because it has an effect on it called 'doubling'. Then I get to reading. Sometimes I can only get through a sentence at a time because I choke, my dog Tufty starts barking out in the yard, a tractor drives by, someone knocks on the door asking directions or a random question which usually gets interrupted by, "Hey, are you American?" or whatever. Anyway, the first thing I do when I get back into the studio is to go back and listen to where the break happened. Then I delete the bad part at a place where it's easy to pick up again. I jump to the second track so I don't record over the tail end of the other one and start again. This goes back and forth until the whole episode is done.

The last part is the mastering where I add the BWN tag (that's the "You're listening to Big World Network" snippet) and a cocktail of audio effects that make the whole thing ready for broadcasting. I'd be happy to share that list and the settings with you, just send me an email. The very last thing I do is email the audio file to my editor which takes awhile. It’s a big file and we don't have superfast broadband here in the Irish countryside. Come to think of it we don't have superfast anything here unless you count Tufty doing laps around his little track out in the yard...which reminds me, it's a Formula 1 race weekend in Barcelona. Sweet!

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.