To match my writing style, I worked with the cover artist for Best Played Hands to design something with multiple levels of impact. So, what's green should be green, what's blue should be blue. It's pretty clear why the hand is breaking through the barrier, reaching for the geode. But I also asked her to add an additional subtle detail for readers to find, if they look closely enough. Really stare at the geode, and you can see it: an eye, the mirror of the soul. I do the same thing in my books: some symbolism hits like a hammer to the head, other less obvious patterns are sprinkled in, and then there's the occasional stray, glittering speck of diamond that might rarely or even never get noticed.
I spend a lot of time naming my characters. At least a few hours for each of the main ones, maybe a day or more for some. I spend so much time looking up meanings of names that Google has been spamming me with maternity advertising for years. That's right, Google thinks I'm pregnant. In Best Played Hands, Crystal Delcielo’s name is an integral part of the storyline, Nada’s is a bit of a revelation, and Will Barden’s is pretty easily associated with William Shakespeare (the bard). On the other hand, not a lot of people know that the great mathematician Leonhard Euler was sometimes called “cyclops” after he lost sight in his right eye, and probably even fewer recognize Arges as the name of a cyclops from Greek mythology. So, Leo Arges, the name of Will’s mathematically-minded bridge partner, looks like nothing special to nearly every reader. But there's something behind it. Would I have made the connection while reading my book? Hell, no. But maybe someday someone will enjoy a smug chuckle for being so much smarter than the rest of us. That’s my goal. That’s my dream. I have a lot of dreams.
No one could guess where Adu Vieo got his name. Well, okay, maybe someone could, but they’d really need a hyperactive imagination. Adu’s name didn’t start out as Adu. I don’t remember what it was at the time, as we were driving halfway up the vertical bisector of our great nation, but I didn’t love it. I was looking for something better. Something smarmier, really. Driving all the way up through the middle of Texas, all of Oklahoma, through Kansas, and then into Nebraska, there’s not much to look at. Cows in the pastures start to look pretty exciting. Horses even better. And then there are all the signs by the highway dispensing ideas about where to eat, where to refuel, what god to worship, and what to do if you’re pregnant (maybe Google put those there, just for me?). So, as I was driving, my mind was pretty fixed on trying to come up with a better name for this character when another sign caught my eye. The neon lighting had seen better days, and it was missing a few letters. Three of them, in fact. High above a building that looked like an old house with boarded windows was the sign that gave birth to the name of the slithering, feckless whiner in Best Played Hands: “ADU_ _ VI_EO.”
And that, my friends, is how Adu got his name.
I spend a lot of time naming my characters. At least a few hours for each of the main ones, maybe a day or more for some. I spend so much time looking up meanings of names that Google has been spamming me with maternity advertising for years. That's right, Google thinks I'm pregnant. In Best Played Hands, Crystal Delcielo’s name is an integral part of the storyline, Nada’s is a bit of a revelation, and Will Barden’s is pretty easily associated with William Shakespeare (the bard). On the other hand, not a lot of people know that the great mathematician Leonhard Euler was sometimes called “cyclops” after he lost sight in his right eye, and probably even fewer recognize Arges as the name of a cyclops from Greek mythology. So, Leo Arges, the name of Will’s mathematically-minded bridge partner, looks like nothing special to nearly every reader. But there's something behind it. Would I have made the connection while reading my book? Hell, no. But maybe someday someone will enjoy a smug chuckle for being so much smarter than the rest of us. That’s my goal. That’s my dream. I have a lot of dreams.
No one could guess where Adu Vieo got his name. Well, okay, maybe someone could, but they’d really need a hyperactive imagination. Adu’s name didn’t start out as Adu. I don’t remember what it was at the time, as we were driving halfway up the vertical bisector of our great nation, but I didn’t love it. I was looking for something better. Something smarmier, really. Driving all the way up through the middle of Texas, all of Oklahoma, through Kansas, and then into Nebraska, there’s not much to look at. Cows in the pastures start to look pretty exciting. Horses even better. And then there are all the signs by the highway dispensing ideas about where to eat, where to refuel, what god to worship, and what to do if you’re pregnant (maybe Google put those there, just for me?). So, as I was driving, my mind was pretty fixed on trying to come up with a better name for this character when another sign caught my eye. The neon lighting had seen better days, and it was missing a few letters. Three of them, in fact. High above a building that looked like an old house with boarded windows was the sign that gave birth to the name of the slithering, feckless whiner in Best Played Hands: “ADU_ _ VI_EO.”
And that, my friends, is how Adu got his name.
