D is for David

"“Smelly,” Nik said loudly as he sat down heavily next to David. “How’s it going?”
They all thought it was hilarious to call him ‘Smelly’ because of his surname. The stupid bastards didn’t even know what lavender was until he explained it. He had used gestures to indicate it smelled good. Unfortunately, they had interpreted his actions as applying to a bad smell and that cracked them up.
-          Loathe Your Neighbor ch.3
 
The name David means “beloved”. It is my name and, by pure coincidence, also the name of the main character in my novel, Loathe Your Neighbor. David Lavender, Dave to his friends, and Smelly to his workmates is an ordinary man living an ordinary life. He does however have an extraordinary ability to make bad decisions. He is an amalgam. A character with whom every reader can relate. Readers will either say I am him, or I know him. I hope the characters I have created agitate the emotions of readers. Charles Darwin said that “a novel does not come into first class unless it contains some person whom one can thoroughly love, and if a pretty woman, all the better.” There are two strong and beautiful women in Loathe Your Neigbor. I invite you to read it and fall in love with them, just as David Lavender did. Maybe you will even love David…or at least loathe him.