Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Character of Names: Intrepid Names For Tempestuous Times

The Character of Names from TEMPESTUOUS: A Modern-Day Spin on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”


Miranda Prospero: Our protagonist is a composite of the sorcerer Prospero and his daughter, Miranda in “The Tempest,” so her name reflects that quite literally.

Ariel and Caleb: In Shakespeare’s play, Prospero and Miranda are joined on the island by a fairy named Ariel and an uncivilized, hairy brute named Caliban, which we shortened to Caleb for our purposes.

Brian Bishop: In addition to rolling off the tongue in a way that makes you instantly picture a high school hottie (with an arrogant streak), his name also alludes to chess, a game that is featured both in Shakespeare’s tale and ours.

Rachel Alonso and her friends, Britney and Whitney: In Shakespeare’s play, Alonso is the name of the “bad guy,” so to speak, Prospero’s sworn enemy. In our book, Rachel’s two blonde friends are basically inseparable hangers on, so we often refer to them both under one easy heading: “The Itneys.”


About the Authors


Kim Askew and Amy Helmes are the authors of the Shakespeare-inspired YA series Twisted Lit. Tempestuous will be available on December 18, 2012 and Exposure will be available January 18, 2013 from Merit Press. Kim and Amy been writing together since 2004, when they launched Romancing the Tome, a blog dedicated to their obsession with book-to-film adaptations. For more information on their books, visit TwistedLitBooks.com.

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