If this seems an odd topic for my blog, keep reading. Yesterday, I wrote one page instead of my usual five. Besides taking time off to pay bills and carry out other mundane tasks, I needed to do some research before proceeding. My heroine, at page 382 in my WIP, is captured by the enemy. Uh oh. What do I call the enemy commander?

Since my story is based on Norse mythology, I went to Wikepedia and first looked up the common military ranks for the U.S. Armed Forces. O-kay. Are we dealing with an army or a navy? Probably an army, since they’re ground troops. So then I looked up ranks for army officers and army enlisted personnel in Norway and Denmark.

So far, so good. But how large a contingent would be stationed where my heroine is? And what do I call it? I needed the designations for military commands. The British battle groups were very clearly defined, so I used them. After all, the Vikings would have invaded Britain back in the old days, right? It sort of makes sense, although my villains predate the invaders. But it serves my purpose. I refined the ranks for my enemy army and began writing again.

This is all part of the World Building process. So was watching an old movie from 1986 on television called Troll  starring June Lockhart, Shelley Hack, and Sonny Bono. Get this: One of the characters is named Harry Potter. Truly. And another character, a small person, wishes he were special and able to do magic. Trolls, dwarves, and a witch create havoc in this strange tale. Interesting, huh, when we think of that other story about You Know Who written by Ms Bestselling Author. Wikepedia says about her series, "the idea for which was conceived whilst on a train trip from Manchester to London in 1990." AFTER the Troll movie. As a writer, you never know when something you’ve seen or heard will pop into your subconscious. Or else, as the saying goes, great minds think alike.

Gee, Nancy. My dad always used to say, "Fools Think Alike" or "Great minds run in the same gutter."

Speaking of names, I found a great one on a boarding pass left in the seat pocket on my last trip. I'm sure he'll end up in one of my books. The funniest, though, was when I created a character name that was actually a nom de plume for my character, a writer. When my husband and I were going from our plane to baggage claim after a trip, there was one of those airport drivers holding up a sign with my made-up name on it.