by Donna Andrews of the Femmes Fatales.
I know writers who shudder at the idea of auctioning off a character name.
For those of you who just said “huh?”—most mystery conventions include auctions to support a nonprofit cause, usually either a literacy organization or a library. And one of the biggest moneymakers at these auctions is character names—an author promises to name a character in an upcoming book or story after the winner of the auction, or whoever the winner chooses.
I like auctioning character names, because it means at least a few names about which I don't have to do massive thinking and research. I seem to have developed an ability to come up with what sound like perfectly good names until someone tells me about the real life people who bear them. A word from a member of my writing group saved me from saddling a perfectly nice absent-minded professor with a name made well known by a politically extreme radio commentator. Another member of the group steered me away from giving a character a name of someone around whom accusations of sexual inappropriateness are now swirling, though not in circles in which I'd have heard of them. Bring on the auctioned names!
Mind you, the authors who auction off character naming opportunities make no promises about what they'll do with your name. I have one friend who won an auction and ended up with her name attached to the new love interest for the main character of an award-winning, long-running series. But I know a lot more people who ended up with bit parts, or even as murder victims.
I usually consult the folks who win my auctions to see if they're reasonably happy with what I plan to do with their names. I think most writers do—although I know one very nice lady who heard nothing from the author after the auction and was not at all pleased to find her name attached to a drug-addicted hooker found murdered in a squalid alley. She complained to the convention at which the auction took place—Malice Domestic, as it happens—but there was nothing the convention could do. Though since I was on the Malice board at that time, I offered to make her a character in one of my books. She seemed pleased, and I hope that eased the sting a little.
Sometimes you get a name that's a little hard to work with. At one auction, the winner asked if I could work in the name of both of her parents, Henry and Phyllis Blanke. I had no objection to the two-fer, but I was a little worried about the name Blanke—this book included Meg's grandfather, Dr. J. Montgomery Blake, and I didn't want to rename him. How could I have Blake and a pair of Blankes in the same book? And then inspiration struck and—well, not giving any spoilers here, but I figured out a way to make the similarity of the names useful.
And from time to time I hear from people who knew the Blankes and remembered them fondly, which is rather nice. I also hear from people who fondly remember Dr. Rufus Womble, the ex-rector of Trinity Episcopalian Church in my fictional town of Caerphilly. Dr. Womble wasn't an auction win—my friend Joni Langevoort, who is very active in Holy Comforter, a local Episcopal church, had been so wonderful at helping me get all the details about Trinity right that I emailed her on impulse one night to ask if she'd like to choose the name of the kindly former rector. And then I cringed, because it occurred to me to worry—what if she offered a name that just didn't work? But Dr. Womble, the priest who baptized her, fit perfectly into my cast of characters, so once I got her to clear it with his family, Dr. Womble's namesake became a resident of Caerphilly--and after being mentioned offstage in one book has now played a significant role in Toucan Keep a Secret.
Because yes, sometimes characters named after people become continuing characters. Meg's cousin Rose Noire, for example—her real name is Rosemary Keenan, since the real Rosemary's father won an auction one year at Mayhem in the Midlands. I try to mention her real name every couple of books, just to keep it alive. And Mo Heedles, who became the police chief of Riverton, the town in which Meg's grandmother lives, has now appeared in two books—The Good, the Bad, and the Emus, and Gone Gull—and will probably make another appearance in the book I'm now working on, since it takes place, once again, in Riverton.
At a recent auction, I agreed to name two characters if the both the high bidder and the next highest would each ante up. Lo and behind, I had two Janets—Janet Caverly, whose son-in-law, writer Ryan Aldred wanted to give her a Christmas present, and Janet Costello, one of the Bouchercon Toronto organizers. I toyed with coming up with a confusion involving the dueling Janets, but it proved easier to have one in each of the next few books. So Janet Caverly appeared in Lark! The Herald Angels Sing—to say just how would be spoiler—and Janet Costello will make her debut as one of a group of writers who are having a writing retreat on board the cruise ship Meg and her family are traveling on in Terns of Endearment.
And no roundup of names would be complete without a tip of the hat to Caroline Willner. I first incorporated her name in We'll Always Have Parrots, mainly to prove to a friend of hers that yes, we really knew each other. She only appeared offstage, as the owner of the wildlife sanctuary that had brought a tiger to the convention Meg was attending. But when I was planning my first Christmas mystery, Six Geese A-Slaying, I realized that I wanted to make Christmas parade Meg was organizing multicultural. Someone should bring an elephant--surely Caroline Willner would have at least one in her wildlife sanctuary. So I asked my friend Dina, Caroline's daughter, if her mother would be okay with appearing in the book. Little did I know that Caroline had just received a terminal diagnosis. She died six weeks later, long before the book was out--but Dina thinks it made her happy to know she'd be appearing it it. And strange to say, the minute Caroline's namesake appeared on stage, she was so entertaining that she became a continuing character.
One of these days, I'll make a complete list of people who've appeared in my books, and post it on my website. But in the meantime--see what you've been missing, not going to those convention auctions?