The funniest thing happened a few years back with a student that I felt I had to share. Here is pretty much the conversation:
Me: So, Sarah*, I need to talk to you about your story.
Sarah: Am I in trouble miss?
Me: Well, it’s just that… your central character…
Sarah: Oh miss, I worked so hard on him. I wanted to create a complex hero; a kind of a Mr. Darcy, but kinder. It’s so cheesy miss, but I created what I feel would be the perfect boyfriend.
Me: But his name…
Sarah: Well, I chose ‘Ted’ because I thought it was kind of a cute name. He’s an everyday guy.
Me: So you’re telling me this was an accident?
Sarah: What? The name? Like I said, I chose ‘Ted’ because it’s a cute name and then I was looking around my kitchen and I saw a packet of hotdog buns called ‘Bundy’s’ and I thought ‘Ted Bundy’ has a certain charm.
Me: Erm, not quite Sarah. Ted Bundy was one of the most famous serial killers of the twentieth century.
Sarah: WHAT?! I thought it sounded familiar alright. Oh my god, sorry miss.
Me: No, no. I mean, your Ted is lovely. It was just hard to take the bit where he takes his mother out for dinner seriously when all I could picture was the cold hard stare of a prolific serial killer…and then there was the part where he saved that puppy from the pound and I actually wanted to dive into the story and save the puppy.
Sarah: Can I have the story back so I can change his name?
Me: Yes, just stay away from ‘Adolf Hitler’ ok?
I just love my students.
*Name changed
