First of all, let me say that I keep a name book, in fact I have more then one. And anytime I find an interesting name I put it in my name book because when you’re writing, you need to name a lot of characters and names resonate, you have to get the right name.
I was writing a book called Chauncey and the Grand Rascal, a novel. And I had a liar’s contest in the story. And originally McBroom was about three-quarters of the page long. I thought, that’s a big waste, that’s too good an idea. I ripped it out of that novel, put it aside.
I finished the novel, then I went back and to see what I could do with this idea, this very rich farm, a one acre farm that was 88 acres deep. And I had a story of about 15 pages, so that was the first McBroom and the question is, where did I get the name?
McBroom, a farmer, McBroom was the right name. It was in my name book otherwise I would never have found it. Now I’ve heard there are families named McBroom’s, there are enough of them that they have their own little mini-convention every so often. I often will hear from McBroom’s, they’re pleased as can be to be immortalized in those 10 McBroom stories.