Characters on the Auction Block

A week ago my church, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Savannah, held its annual fundraising auction. I put on the block the ability to name one of my characters in my current WIP, Cabin Fever. I was willing to auction one male and one female character. Each sold for $100.

Then I got to thinking that maybe my publisher would let me change two character names in Bad Policy scheduled for a March 1, 2013 release. So I sent an email to Sheri Gormley, publisher of Barking Rain Press, and asked if it might be possible. I pointed out that from the auction buyers’ perspective it would give them more immediate gratification. From her perspective, it would guarantee at least two book sales J. Sheri agreed to do the necessary search and replace and so, as did the slave owners of an earlier time, I sold two characters down river and forced them to change their names.

I’ll withhold the new names since one person bought the character as a holiday present for a friend and on the off chance that person uses Google Alerts to scan for his name, I don’t want to spoil the gift.

I’ve lived with one of these characters for ten years. (He appeared in Ant Farm, my practice novel that saw its first draft in 2002.) The other character first got her name over eight years ago in the first draft of Bad Policy. I suspect I’ll think of these characters with their “creation” names for quite some time, and I’ll have to remind myself they took on new monikers.

I have always been a strong proponent of women keeping their own names upon marriage—not so much for the woman’s rights aspect; I didn’t want to have to learn new names. But if someone did choose to change their name (even when both parties of the couple went with a hyphenated name combining both of their birth surnames), I adapted to their preference. I’ll adjust with these characters, but it might take some time.

I think it will be easier to let go of the old names because I can replay in memory the excitement both my character buyers expressed when they talked about their opportunity to join my creative process.

If you are an author, have you sold a character? As a reader, have you bought one in a charity auction? I’m interested in others’ experiences.

~ Jim

P.S. Today is Veterans’ Day. Regardless of your stance on any of the wars we’ve fought during your lifetime, if you know a vet, please thank them for their service. And I encourage you to take a moment at 11:00, the time the WW I Armistice went into effect on this day in 1918, to send a positive thought to all those families who have lost a loved one in the service of our country.

~ J