Meet Beck Morran

The inspiration behind the character

If you read how AyDee and Kaejae came up with Nyra’s name, then you know they had to change up her name.

Such was the case for their main male character.

When AyDee was going over the notes, KaeJae had the FMC’s name as Elara Vex and Cassian Something for the MMC.

Well, they obviously couldn’t use Cassian, because that name was already taken by a very popular series.

They went back to the drawing board where KaeJae dropped a list of names to choose from:

10 Spy-like Names

1. Dominic Shaw
   
   

2. Rafe Holloway
   
   

3. Ezra Quinn
   
   

4. Beck Morran

   
   

5. Silas Creed
   
   

6. Vin Locke
   
   

7. Grant Ashmoor
   
   

8. Cole Severin

   
   

9. Dane Calder
   
   

10. Jack Vexley

10 Traditional Romantasy Names

1. Thorne Virell
   
   

2. Kael Marrow
   
   

3. Ashren Vale
   
   

4. Darian Blackmoor
   
   

5. Cairn Maddox
   
   

6. Evran Locke
   
   

7. Riven Calder
   
   

8. Solric Dorne
   
   

9. Malric Thane

   
   

10. Torren Valecrest
    

As much as AyDee loves unique names, she thought the names on the 10 Traditional Romantasy Names list were too typical. Like, she knew these were the kind of names she would see in a romantasy novel. DoDE takes place in contemporary London, with the magical world running parallel but unseen by people who are not magical (Civilians).

AyDee was looking for a more contemporary name, so she wrote down the names that jumped out at her the most:

• Rafe Holloway

• Beck Morran

• Silas Creed

She even wrote down a variation of the names:

• Beck Holloway

• Rafe Creed

• Silas Morran

For a moment, she was gravitating toward Beck Holloway. But she kept looking at the guy who was her MMC inspo, and he didn’t seem like a Beck Holloway. He could’ve been a Silas Creed, though.

But in the end, AyDee chose the name Beck Morran.

So, who was her inspiration, you ask?

So glad you asked.

His name is Alan Ritchson

They love men in glasses Photo credit | Alan Ritchson

and you may know him as the actor who plays Jack Reacher on the Amazon Prime series, Reacher.

Photo credit | Amazon

Says AyDee

I’ve been a fan of Alan since his “Smallville” days. That was one of my favorite shows back in the day and he played Aquaman on the show. And then he popped up again on this hilarious show called “Blue Mountain State”, where he played dumb football jock, Thad Castle. He had great comedic timing on there. When I heard he was picked to take over Tom Cruise’s role in the “Reacher” series, I was like “AWWW, YEAH! Perfect. He’s fucking perfect!” When I started watching the show, I kept thinking he would make a great Beck. I wanted someone who could be a human wall between Nyra and whatever/whoever wanted to hurt her and Alan embodies that to me.

Right. So. That’s a pretty solid wall. Photo credit | Alan Ritchson

He’s also a family man, a man of faith, and he can sing! (he even tried out for American Idol and serenaded Paula Abdul! 😍 Google it!), so AyDee was further reminded that Alan could be both tough and sensitive.

AyDee and KaeJae hope readers see the same attributes in Beck.

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Midlife badass incoming on 5/12/26. Available for pre-orders now!