Archives for July 2011

My real name is Brand.

When I was born, no one knew that. Even I was not aware. The words on the government paper read “Brandon” and that was enough for us all. The word identified me, but did not define me. That was enough, for a child.

However, as I outgrew my name, it began to show wear. It was a formal name, and I was not a formal person. I was rambuctious, garrulous, quick to action and willing to laugh at myself in the attempt to commune with friends. And so those friends gave me a new name, Brand.

I was supposed to write a blog post about writing for audio, but early in the post, I got distracted with another theme. I’d love to finish it, but I have to get back to the original topic. So, I thought I would share it with you, because while I can’t use it, it’s not exactly useless. And hey, there’s stuff here that people might like to argue with me.

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Pick a novel, open to a page, and before you start reading it, just look at it. Without knowing what book you chose, without knowing what page you flipped to, I would bet I can guess what you’re looking at.

On Monday, the tribe sat down around the fire to eat. As was normal in the silence of the meal, the chief called on one of his warriors, “Tell us what great things you did today!”

The warrior sat up straight, “I killed two boars. One of them we are eating now.”

The chief said, “That is good,” and they continued their meal in silence.

On Tuesday, the chief called upon another of his hunters, “What great things did you do today?”

“My chief, I saw a mighty ox, which I tracked all morning, but when I caught it at mid-day, it escaped.”