A Dentist Is Only Half The Doctor

Names Generate Meaning In A Short Amount Of Space — They Provoke Thoughts, Questions. That's Something I Like Doing. Of Course, You Have To Be Careful. Sometimes It Can Alienate The Reader, It Can Be Another Level Of Mediation, To Make A Character Carry The Great Burden Of A Metaphoric Name. The Character Can Be A Device Before He Or She Becomes A Person, And That Can Be A Bad Thing For A Writer Who Wants To Offer Up A Kind Of Emotional Proximity In The Work. It's A Constant Struggle, The Desire To Be Playful And The Desire To Communicate On Some Very Stark Emotional Level.

Humor Is A Very Big Part Of Life, And If You Exclude Humor From Your Book, You're Not Capturing A Very Important Part Of Human Experience.

If Someone Were Plucked From The Group And Given Those Responsibilities, They Might Find Themselves Growing More Aloof, Just By Virtue Of That Promotion. Suddenly The Group Culture Excludes You. I Saw This In My Own Working Life, And I Don't Think It's A Coincidence - I Sensed A Kind Of Loneliness In Middle Managers Especially.

Everyone Desires Relationships And Community. Most People Want To Belong To A Cohesive, Like-minded Group. It Staves Off Loneliness. It Promotes Identity. These Are Natural And Very Human Instincts.

Between The Time I First Started Working In Advertising In 1998 And Now, The Word Brand Has Replaced Identity. We Are No Longer Individuals So Much As We Are Brands. We're Individual Brands. Individuals Are Basically Left To Define Their Individuality By Staying Off The Internet, Which In And Of Itself Can Be A Brand, The Opting-out Brand.