I use Google Alerts to notify me whenever my name or titles of my work come up. It typically only finds me listed as a link on other people's blogs, which is flattering. I'll occasionally find a book review of one of my published novels. But yesterday I was alerted to something I'd never have imagined.There's a comic strip on the web with a character named Karen Duvall. I know, what are the odds? Google alerted me to a blog called The Hathor Legacy, and there was an interview with comic strip writer T. Campbell. I didn't read the entire interview, but Mr. or Ms. Campbell writes a strip called Penny & Aggie about teenage girls and high school life. One of the less than savory characters in the comic is Karen Duvall. I guess it's a fairly popular web comic for teens because it has a very active forum. I read a couple of the strips. Not horrible, but not quite ready for newspaper syndication, either.
4 comments:
Oh, I've seen that comic. Yeah... I'm not sure it's one I'd want my name attached to. But I doubt they picked on you on purpose.
Hey! I've been a dedicated reader of P&A for several years now, so it was quite strange seeing that comment in the interview with TCampbell. (who is male, BTW.)
"Less savory" isn't the word I'd use to describe Karen in the webcomic (she is sooo easy to hate). Also, I think only about half of the active forumers are in the teen-aged category, we have quite a few adults as well. The chemistry of the story makes for some passionate posts and interesting discussions. :)
Well, *I'd* use the term less-than-savory. And for what it's worth, I think our work got better after we stopped WANTING to be syndicated in newspapers.
The namesaking certainly wasn't deliberate: I got her first name as a modification of "Carrie" a la Stephen King and her second, a year later, because I needed something that rhymed with "birthday ball." With some characters I can risk exotic, foreign-sounding names, but this character required a more "standard" appellation, and that increased the risk of using a name someone else had. This was back in 2004-2005, before your current website, though I can't remember if I Googled the name beforehand or not.
I can't change it very easily now, but I hope it doesn't cause any serious trouble. Let me know if there's anything I can do.
T, no worries, it doesn't bother me at all, I just thought the name thing was funny. My father-in-law was Robert Duvall, but not THE Robert Duvall. It's amusing when these coincidences occur, that's all. LOL! 8^)
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