What's in a Name?

Ever since I first had the dream that inspired my book, the characters have been living in my head.

  To start with they were just the prison warden and the prisoner and then when I decided it was time to start writing, they needed names.

  I think Stanley Thomas was always going to be called Stanley Thomas, and there’s a very personal reason for that. Maybe at some point I’ll talk about, or maybe it will remain my little secret, but for the record none of the stuff Stanley does in my book was ever done by the real one, although he did some pretty horrible things!

Henry Mason started out life as Albert Mason, but it didn’t feel right, so I changed it. He’s named after two people. One who I have been fascinated with since I was a child and the other who is my favourite actor, who is weirdly how I imagine Stanley in my head.

One thing you should probably know about me is that I’m a Tudor Geek! I blooming love them! 

Ever since my Mum would tell me stories about Henry 8thand his 6 wives, I’ve been obsessed! I made my parents take me to Hampton Court Palace, although I remember being a bit scared of bumping in Catherine Howard’s ghost screeching down the corridor (we didn’t see her) We went to Windsor Castle (I seem to remember Lucy moaning all the way round there) and more recently there’s been trips to the Tower of London. 

A play at the Tower of London about Anne Boleyn

The spot where Anne Boleyn was executed.

Traitor's Gate


And Hever Castle, Anne Boleyn’s childhood home.

Hever Castle

Hever Castle

Anne Boleyn's portrait at Hever Castle
 So it felt right to call a character Henry.

The Mason is in honour of the actor James Mason.

Although, I haven’t really introduced you to the other characters yet, they are coming to life in the pages of my book and some of them have been named after people I like and admire and for others, I’ve simply googled popular names in the 1950’s and 1980’s and picked one from there. 

  I’m still debating whether I can get away with calling any of the characters Kylie and Jason or Scott and Charlene…. (well some of the book is set in 1988)

  I’ve just come back from holiday and so I haven’t written anything for a couple of weeks, however, it felt like Stanley and Henry had sneaked away with me.

I saw this sign in San Francisco.



And in Vancouver, we went to the very beautiful Stanley Park. 



It was this sign that gave me an idea for naming some of the characters who might yet appear in my book! I look forward to introducing you to Mrs Beaver, Professor Tree and Officer Picnic….. OK, maybe I’ll keep working on those names!

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