Walking the fine line between being unbearably fussy and annoyingly picky when it comes to choosing what goes into the Wilfair books is a challenge for me.
I believe every writer lovingly handpicks everything that goes into a story, as she should, but there comes a point when one must back. Away. From. Obsessing over the smallest details.
Oof, and I do adore details. I pet them and braid their hair and feed them treats and sit them on my knee for long spells.
But one of the bigger elements of the books, the cousins' surname, was actually something I only ever intended to be a place marker for whatever their surname would eventually become.
"Overbove" entered the books early on, basically so I'd have something beyond "TBD" to use for the motel family's name.
And, yep, you could very easily read "over and above" into it. Smiley face.
But my date with choosing a different surname for Monty and Gomery kept getting pushed back as Overbove grew on me. I liked its round tones and I liked how the big O matched the little o in the guys' first names. "Ove" repeats in the name, too, and repeating things appeal to me. And I can't even get into my "v" love here. It's too deep.
By the by, how do you say this name or think it, rather? I say "Over" like "over" and "bove" to rhyme with "cove."
So, yep, a name I intended as a placeholder for two of the main characters and their moms and dads stuck, even as I fretted over much smaller stuff. Monty and Gomery are not fussers by nature -- maybe Monty, a little bit -- so I like to think they appreciate that I kept the very first surname to be bestowed upon the House of Fairwil.
