Meet Brasidas

I love coincidences in life. They make me look like such a better writer. I made the decision a long time ago that I would only use Greek names in my Atlantis series. I was in high school when I wrote the Curse of Atlantis, therefore, I asked a teacher to provide me with a list of Greek names we used to write our own mythologies in the seventh grade. I soon outgrew this list before I even entered the second book.

I have since discovered sites for Greek names, which is great. For any writer, I recommend at least a book of baby book (if not websites) to help with character names. I bought my first baby name "book" when I was twelve which raised a few eyebrows at checkout. Anyway, I don't put a whole lot of thought into naming characters. Whatever name grabs me will work. But, as in this character, the name that grabbed me matched perfectly with the mythology. Perhaps it was my muse speaking to me.

In my second Atlantis novel, I introduce the character of Brasidas. In my story, he is the second in charge of an elite fighting force in the Zeus army. He faithfully follows orders, even if they are at times brutal. In real mythology, Brasidas was a great Spartan commander. What makes this all the more perfect is that I used Spartan society to mimic Zeus' society. They are about honor and military gain. In fact, in my novel children have a choice: military or the arts. Military, of course, holds more honor to the family.

So, I suppose if anyone asks, I will say that I planned the whole thing. Because I do my research down to the last pebble and map parallelisms with real life. But I will say this with a nod and wink, knowing that the coincidences in life are far more creative than anything I can strategize.