A Thistle by any other name is still a prickly &$%#*
"You have Questions I have Answers!”For the last couple decades I have had small people who like to say "Mama I have a question!" and my reaponse has always been "I have answers!" Well that is until Flint started asking unanswerable questions like "What is the ratio between a meteor and the crater it creates?" Now I just put money in a jar labled "Unanswerable" instead of the swear jar I used to have. Don't worry I still swear plenty but resources had to be reallocated.
I can’t tell you how good it feels to be capable of answering at least some of the questions readers have asked me about writing my memoir Thistles & Thorns. Following is the first of what I hope will be many questions for the author.
Curious Creature: Why did you change some names but keep others?
Knowledgeable Writer: Great question! When I was writing my first draft, I kept all the names genuine so that I could keep my sanity during the writing process. When it came time to copyright and publish my finished work the publisher let me know that I would need to get written and signed permission from every person to use their names. Except “Blake” I could have used his name because it is part of public record, and he couldn’t come after me or my publisher for any monetary reimbursement due to not being able to profit from his crimes. I decided to change his name to something boring that’s meaning is rooted in villainy because there is power in names. Stripping him of these last vestiges of presence in a world outside of his cage felt right. I did the work to get permission to keep about 5% of the names. Obviously, I want Amara, Sophie, and Cea’s names to be etched in hearts, minds, and souls across the globe so keeping their names was not a question. Plus, it is hard enough to name children once and damn near impossible to call them anything else afterward. Which leads me to the difficulty of re-naming almost 70 characters. I did my best to dump the work back on to my nearest and dearest by giving them the opportunity to pick their own aliases. Which was honestly kind of fun and let me get a peek into the psyche of these complicated creatures I thought I knew so well. Then came the long list of people that I had to rechristen without their input. I took my time to make sure that many of the names had meanings for me if no one else. My most clever creation was “Sam Aritan” for the man who welcomed my folks and I into his home when we were refuges of the immediate aftermath. If you blend the name together it is “Samaritan” like the good Samaritan he was. There were so many names to change, track, and manage I had to create a spreadsheet which I titled “A thistle by any other name is still a prickly #*!@&!” and still have to reference on occasion. I tried my best to honor those characters of my life with the names I chose but would be lying if I said every new name drips with distinction. The one surname I changed was my maiden name. Originally, I was going to go with just plain “Smith” but as you know if you read the book it ended up being “Stout”. Yes, there is a story behind that choice. When I was about 18 my boyfriend’s dad called me stout. Like any late 90’s teenage girl striving to achieve the heroin chic ideal at the time, I was horribly hurt at first. He quickly explained that he was referring to my tenacity, reliability, my solid soul. He reminded me that a stout person is dependable and strong but I also have to admit I do tend to be a short and solidly built woman. I chose Stout to embrace the roots of my soul and honor the strong stock I have sprung from. So that is the long answer to the short question about names.
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