Sunday, October 21, 2007

The King of Cowboy Boots

WM excerpt:

"Heads I win. Tails I win too," said Ashley Ekuban.

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The Writing Marathon wasn't a creatively unproductive experience for me. The people, the places, quite encouraging; and I thought a lot, and I planned a lot. But I'm mostly in the middle of things right now, and I didn't do much writing on the day.

I like that first line, though. Heads I win, tails I win too.... From that sentence, from thinking about it, and making that name--Ekuban, Ashley...shaken, not stirred--I have a character, and I have a first scene.

Ashley Ekuban is going to be a freaking awesome dude. I've always loved cowboys. I've told people before that I wasn't one of these kids that wanted to be a cop, not really, or a fireman, or an astronaut. And I never wanted to grow up and be a cowboy. I sort of just wanted to be a cowboy.

Ekuban...

6 comments:

Ali said...

I like that the super macho cowboy character is named Ashley. It's funny. Like having a Jayne.

The One and Only John said...

I'll be honest, I read "Ashley Ekuban" and thought of a snotty, rich girl. I think I need more than the line about flipping a coin, person, beer coaster, or what have you.

Unknown said...

No duh you need more. A whole book, I should reckon.

Ashley's a manly name. The manliest character in Gone With the Wind is named Ashley...or is it War and Peace? One of those ones I slept through. And a majorly bad-ass football player's name is Ashley. To find names with a great deal of machismo, turn to the NFL. In most cases--not all--you'll find macho names.

Ali said...

No, the manliest character in Gone With the Wind is named Rhett. Duh.

Unknown said...

I didn't think Rhett were that manly. He ran away. Ashley got all kinds of crap but still kept on keeping on.

The One and Only John said...

Ash from the Evil Dead Series, his full name is Ashley.