Characters for sale

There's this really cool website, kickstarter.com, where people can post their projects and seek funding pledges to support them. I'm putting out a proposal to find a way to help support myself while I finish writing Eagle Scouting. I'm selling characters - actually, their names. People who make a pledge of a certain amount will be able to have a character with their name in the book. No chance of picking whether you want to be a villain or hero, sorry about that. When the project goes live, I will tell the world where to find it and make a pledge.
Naming characters can be very daunting. In my last novel that was particularly problematic since most of the characters were Turkish, so I had to really stretch ---- stretch my arm to the Istanbul metropolitan phone book, that is. When a friend was traveling to Turkey and asked what I wanted her to bring back, she delivered a phone book that was a great help to me.
So, naming. Do names always have to mean something, reveal the hidden nature of the individual or relate to some great historical or mythical character? Not in my book. A name is a name is a name. If you name your baby Rocky, will he grow up to be an interior decorator? Does he even have a chance? If you name your baby Dawn, what happens if she turns out to be a night person, rather than a morning person? Oh, but it's the sunny disposition that comes through the name in that case.
Interesting things, names. If you'd like to see yours appear in my novel, let me know. Of course, remember that nothing in life is free, not even a name.

Here we go

I'm so excited about my new book that I have to start sharing some of it. It's most definitely NOT a sequel to the last one, which I understand may be a major disappointment. I need to take a break from those characters, as lovable as they may be, and write something completely different! So that's what Eagle Scouting is all about.
It's fun, it's angry, it's gritty - and it's back in Connecticut, where I returned about 11 years ago after almost 20 years in New York City. So yes, you can go home again - and sometimes, the reward is in the journey.
There seems to be a recurring theme in my work, which I did not notice until a few years ago. Apparently, my writing is about going home and facing the past. In my first novel, the main character returns to Turkey, where she was born, after living 15 years in New York without looking back. Naturally, the return is reluctant, and turns out to be life-changing.
The new book, Eagle Scouting, features a photographer (again living in NYC - is there a trend here?) who returns home and starts investigating the violent death of her brother. Things are not as they seem, and the stories of both brother and sister are interwoven in a fast-paced read.