Love Bytes welcome author Anne Barwell who stops by today to talk about her new release “Winter Duet”, book 2 in the Echoes Rising series.

Welcome Anne 🙂

It’s All in the Name

 

Thanks for hosting me today.

 

One of the questions I get asked about writing is how I name characters. Sometimes characters are considerate and turn up with a name, either first, last, or both. That makes my life so much easier. Others turn up and want attention but I have to figure out their name myself.

 

When naming the characters from Winter Duet, the 2^nd book in my WWII Echoes Rising series, I also had to keep in mind the time period, as these guys would have been born in the 1910s, and also their nationality. Because this book is a part of a series, I needed to know their names before I started writing the first book in the series—Shadowboxing—and I didn’t want to repeat any I’d used elsewhere. As an aside, there is a repeated name in Winter Duet, but it’s just a brief mention and yes it is a cameo from someone in another of my books.

 

I also need to know their names before I start writing, and preferably before I start plotting. Kristopher was the first character to be named, which made my life a lot easier especially as he needed a name that would shorten to a nickname as that was a plot point. I had to hunt for his surname though. Lehrer means teacher, and that choice was deliberate. I use the Behind the Name (http://www.behindthename.com/) site a lot when choosing character names. It’s very useful as it gives meaning, background, and nationality, as well as christian and surnames.

 

Michel was a little more difficult as he needed a name that would work in both French and German. His last name—Faber—came from Behind the Name and fit well. I found out years later that there is an author of the same name who started writing about the time I chose it. Oops. Oh well, there are different authors out there with the same name, and I wasn’t about to change a name already in print. Besides, Michel only uses his last name in about two places in the whole series…

 

Ken was another character whose name needed to work in two nationalities. As one of my betas and I had already come up with Michel’s name, we kept going while we were on a roll. I also needed two surnames for him, the American one he was currently using and another. Next up was Liang, the choice coming from a combination of discussion and options from a name site.

 

Matt Bryant turned up with his name, so he was easy. In one of those weird co-incidences, though, in Shadowboxing he and Ken share a Lone Ranger joke and I found out later that Bryant Canyon is where the rest of the Rangers met their fate.

 

Karl Holm’s surname was originally Fuchs, but there was a man called Fuchs who had worked on the atomic bomb project. I hadn’t known that when I’d chosen the name, but one of my betas did so I quickly changed it. I google names now to make sure they’re not already in use.

 

Then I had to work out aliases for the team, as they need to assume fake identities as they make their way across Germany…

 

Blurb:

Winter Duet

Echoes Rising book 2 – Sequel to Shadowboxing

 

Germany 1944

 

Hunted for treason and the information Kristopher carries, he and Michel leave the security of their safe house to journey across Germany toward Switzerland. Caught in a series of Allied bombings, they stop to help civilians and narrowly escape capture by German forces.

 

While investigating a downed aircraft in the Black Forest, the two men discover an injured RAF pilot. After they are separated, Kristopher and the pilot are discovered by a German officer who claims he is not who he appears to be. Determined to find Michel again, Kristopher has to trust the stranger and hope he is not connected to those searching for him and the information he carries. Meanwhile Michel is intercepted by one of the Allied soldiers he met in Berlin. His help is needed to save one of their own.

 

Time quickly runs out. Loyalties are tested and betrayed as the Gestapo closes in. Michel can only hope they can reach safety before information is revealed that could compromise not only his and Kristopher’s lives, but those of the remaining members of their team—if it is not already too late.

 

Buy Links:

DSP Publications

Amazon

After ten minutes he stopped to catch his breath. His intention to walk slowly hadn’t lasted long, and he’d picked up his pace as soon as he’d gotten past the soldier he’d saluted. It had begun snowing again, and he shivered despite feeling warm from the exercise. At this rate he was never going to make it back to the truck in time. If Liang had any sense, he would be there and getting ready to drive back to the safe house while the Germans were preoccupied searching the forest. Finding one RAF crewman would only serve to make them all the more determined to find the other.

 

The search seemed to be focused back the way he’d come. He’d heard several voices and sounds of movement, but they’d grown quieter the farther north he’d gone. He took a moment to get his bearings. If he stayed on his planned course, there should be another road about half an hour ahead. His stomach rumbled, a reminder that it had been several hours since breakfast. A check of his watch confirmed it was now early afternoon. Getting back to the safe house from here on foot was still an option, although it would take a while. Once he found the road, he’d follow that but keep to the outskirts of the forest.

 

He caught movement from the corner of his eye, something up ahead in the distance. Matt stopped and focused, then saw it again, a patch of color that didn’t quite fit the mix of brown and white of the forest. He moved quickly but silently, closing the distance between himself and whatever or whoever it was. As much as he was tempted to give it a wide berth, it might be the pilot he was searching for.

 

Yes, he’d definitely found the pilot. The man was sitting on the ground, his back against a tree. A quick scan sized up the situation. The pilot appeared to be injured; his leg was wrapped in the remains of his flak jacket. He still wore his goggles and flight helmet, and when he moved, he hissed in pain.

 

The color Matt had seen was the red strap of the flak jacket lying on the ground. Although the emergency pull release was no longer attached to it, the strap should have been buried or at least tucked out of sight where it couldn’t be seen.

 

A German soldier, gun in hand, stood over the pilot. The soldier glanced around nervously. He seemed about the same age as Matt, but if his demeanor was anything to go by, he hadn’t seen much in the way of action. The pilot appeared to be much younger than both of them, not much more than a kid. He looked up, and his gaze met Matt’s. His eyes widened.

 

The soldier spun around quickly, aiming his gun at Matt. His knuckles were white where he gripped it with both hands. He was shaking. “Drop your gun and raise your hands,” he said slowly and clearly.

 

Matt took a couple of steps toward him. He already had his own gun out and aimed at the German. “Lower your weapon, Gefreiter. You’re pointing it at a superior officer. We’re on the same side.”

 

Anne Barwell lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She shares her home with two cats who are convinced that the house is run to suit them; this is an ongoing “discussion,” and to date it appears as though the cats may be winning. In 2008 she completed her conjoint BA in English Literature and Music/Bachelor of Teaching. She has worked as a music teacher, a primary school teacher, and now works in a library. She is a member of the Upper Hutt Science Fiction Club and plays violin for Hutt Valley Orchestra. She is an avid reader across a wide range of genres and a watcher of far too many TV series and movies, although it can be argued that there is no such thing as “too many.” These, of course, are best enjoyed with a decent cup of tea and further the continuing argument that the concept of “spare time” is really just a myth.

 

Anne’s books have received honorable mentions four times and reached the finals three times in the Rainbow Awards.  She has also been nominated twice in the Goodreads M/M Romance Reader’s Choice Awards—once for Best Fantasy and once for Best Historical.

 

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