Guest Post by Kenneth J. Kerr

How Do I Choose The Names Of The Characters For A Book? I don't have any sophisticated system for name selections. I try to imagine a name that I think suits the character I am describing, and obviously, I try to avoid any names that are public figures. When I need foreign names, like the Pakistani names in “The First Madam President,” I use a few sites on the internet that provide common or uncommon names for a particular country.

I had one experience in name selection for “The First Madam President” that might be of interest. I had chosen a different name for Judy Webber, the President's Chief of Staff. One day a friend told me about a Netflix show that she strongly suggested I watch. The show was “House of Cards” a great series about people in government in Washington. A couple days later I started watching the show and one of the characters in the show had the same last name as the name I had chosen for the character who is now Judy Webber. I worried that someone would think the show had influenced my writing so I changed Judy's last name to Webber. One can't be too careful.
The First Madam President Excerpt: The President had only met Ann once before, but her initial impressions of the young lady were very positive. She smiled inwardly realizing that the CIA Director had given Ann a more important role in this meeting.

            "Ann, you and your Director were here previously on the suspected plot, and I said come back when you have more evidence that will stand up in court. Do you think we are there yet?"

            Ann responded, "Madam President, with all due respect, you may be using the wrong standard. My team is tasked with following Al Qaeda, collecting intelligence, analyzing the intelligence and the situation, and preventing another terrorist attack on the United States. Sometimes we collect intelligence in ways that would not meet the standard required in a court of law. We may have that situation facing us now. It is highly likely that a cell of terrorists plan to attack sites in Washington D.C soon. It could be tomorrow, or the next day or several days from now. Hopefully, they are using fake explosives and will be unsuccessful. I don't want to take that chance. And Madam President, I don't think you should take that chance either. We have reliable intelligence that indicates an attack is imminent. I don't believe you want to be known as the President who had intel about an attack and did not act. There are times when the standard for evidence useable in a trial, may be too high. This may be one of those times."

            The President stared at Ann. Everyone else in the room was dead silent, wondering how the President would respond to Ann's comments.
Author Bio: Hi. My pen name is Kenneth J. Kerr, but most people call me Ken. I am retired after a successful business career, which included extensive international travel and living overseas in Hong Kong and Tokyo, Japan for almost a decade. After retirement, I lived in Russia for a year as a Peace Corps volunteer. I began my writing career 'late in life', just over two years ago. My second novel, “The First Madam President (and the dirty bombs)” was published in May 2014 and is available as an e-book or paperback on Amazon and as an e-book in all formats at Smashwords.

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