some notes...

I'm not going to blog a lot about the next stage of the novel, which is engine and body work. I'm still a little high on finishing the first run of it. As a tiny extra, I'm tossing out a couple of character notes. I thought it might be cool to share them.

Duwon Kingman- professional football player, plays for the Carolina Panthers. His agent Henry Bishop called to explain why his client was not included in the latest edition of a sports video game. He puts it off to religious intolerance. Kingman, a Chicago native, is a follower of Thor, as depicted in Marvel comics. Bishop is one of the last people Ted speaks with on the last day of his job as a sportswriter.

Jody Murphy and Doug Montgomery- Two of Ted's editors at the Charlotte Sentinel. Coincidentally, both names are of real people, who used to look over my column in college. Usually, if I could get both of them to laugh, I had a winner. I figured they were good mojo back in the day. Neither of their characters does anything horrible, which will disappoint Jody when he finds out, and the shout out is my way of saying thanks for reading a lot of crap in college.

Agnes Moody- Tenant in the building Ted works in. She's 80, has two cats she overfeeds, likes game shows and has permanent problems with her bathroom because she shoves pans of cat litter down the toilet. She's also a very low-grade psychic. There's more, but I can't give that away.

Julian Banks- The gigantic, gay neighbor of Agnes Moody. A former All-American tackle with an art degree from FSU. He is a mall security guard and in-love with a married man on the second floor, who does not return his affections. He has a really nice apartment and drinks Dutch beer. Ditto on there being more.

Steve Gomez- The married man. He's a smallish, nervous guy who drives a bookmobile for a living. He's devoted to his wife, but they've been having problems. He also prefers pajamas with Teddy Bears on them. Ditto again.

That's all I'm giving away. Now, I really have to get back to work.