Why My Main Character’s Name Means “Thanks”

by Exhibiting Author Jeff Minerd

Ideas for stories usually come to me in bits and pieces, as I’m daydreaming or taking a walk. But not the idea for my novel The Sailweaver’s Son. This fantasy adventure and coming-of-age story came to me all at once and completely unexpectedly.

It started with a dream. I dreamt that my son Noah and I were writing a story together. We were taking turns at writing it, and the writing wasn’t going well. We were struggling. The story wasn’t coming together. I think this may have partly been an anxiety dream about my relationship with my son. Anyway, when I woke up I couldn’t remember the story we had tried to write, but one vivid image stayed in my head—three kids riding a sailboat through the sky.

The image persisted, and lying there in bed I started to think about the kind of fantasy world in which you could sail a boat through the sky. That night, the world of Etherium came to me, and then the story. It was as if it downloaded itself into my head. Not all the details but the broad strokes—the characters, the creatures, the main plot points, key scenes. I never had an experience like that before.

The name of the young hero in my novel is Tak. It was the first name that popped into my head when I sat down to write the first scene. I wasn’t crazy about the name at first. I thought I would change it, but it grew on me. “Tak” happens to mean “thanks” in Danish. I learned that during a brief trip to Denmark years ago. I felt the story came to me like a gift, so it was appropriate the main character’s name be a word of gratitude.