Thursday, June 17, 2010

Random Acts of Contests

Today's contest is... (drumroll)

NAME-THE-DECEASED-CHARACTER CONTEST!

!!URGENT MESSAGE TO READERS OF THIS BLOG!! Up to this point I have revealed very little about my novel's story content, but today that is all going to change...well, it's going to change some...okay, I'm going to tell you one thing.

I have a deceased character named Jake.

Jake was a wonderful young man--bordering on perfect, as the deceased often are. He was good-lookin' as heck, kind to the less fortunate, and had big plans as the future student body president. He was the MC's boyfriend.

But Jake has one flaw.

His name.

I know, who doesn't love a guy named Jake, but I've come near to the end of my little tale and I find I have a Jackie, a Jen, and a JT, in addition to the aforementioned Jake.

Jake's got to go. Two many J's in the mix.

WILL YOU HELP RENAME JAKE?

A few things to keep in mind...

+My main character's name is Taryn (Eek! BIG REVEAL!)

+(In my mind) Jake is tall with darkish, slightly longish, but not too long hair that curls at the ends

+His name must be pretty nondescript since he is not a main character--just an often-mentioned deceased character

CONTEST DETAILS:
I will choose a winner from among the entrees received in the comments section, and, mind you, it will be completely subjective.

If I choose your name for Jake you will receive a 4th of July vinyl lettering design. (I'll see if I can post a picture of the design at some point.) If there are multiple suggestions for the same name, then I will make a rule, like, the first one who sent it in wins. Something crazy like that. I will run the contest for (approximately) one week.

Please note that there are no guarantees that the winning name for Jake will stay that name in the book's published form. As always, all novel content is subject to the whim of a future editor. The future editor I can only hope (and pray and plead and cry and beg and bribe) to have someday.

And just so you know, I may always call him Jake in my heart no matter what the name on the page says. He was conceived as Jake and he'll just always be Jake to me.

22 comments:

Lance said...

This is obvious...as in no contest.
His name should be Lance

Angie said...

I had the same problem with a Jake (Jacob, actually), so I changed his name to Caleb. My other suggestion would be Ryan. Can I make more than one suggestion? In my current novel, I have a Peter and a Paul. Those names are easy to confuse, so I may have to change Peter's name. Paul's is staying.

Valerie Ipson said...

Note to Lance: While Lance is an awesome, hunky, cool guy's name (I should know, I married one) it will have to be disqualified. It's my fault--I should have listed one other important detail--there's a very alive cute boy in the novel and his name begins with an L. It's Levi (BIG REVEAL, again!) and I cannot have two important guys in Taryn's life beginning with the same letter of the alphabet. Sorry.

Krista Darrach said...

How about Jhett? Just kidding... like you need another "J" name!!! HA HA HA :)
How many syllables do you want?
Wade/Cade, Cayden, Damian,
(there covered all the bases)

kbrebes said...

My family and I have discussed this at length (lol!) and the voting is unanimous: BLAKE!

mamajo said...

I like Brock or Garrett!

Tamara said...

ok. how about Mike. I know it is really common, but that contributes to the the 'non-descript' requirement. other ideas - Scott or Kevin.

Heather Justesen said...

George? Loren? (Okay, I admit, I realized recently I have three books with characters named Loren--what's up with that?) Ha, and you know I've used almost ALL of the suggested names listed by the other commenters!

Unknown said...

Bruce is a good strong name! What a fun way to solve your dilemma!

Karen Dupaix said...

How about Ben or Andre?

Jordan McCollum said...

One of my favorite ways to name minor-ish characters is to pick the year they were born and then use the Social Security Administration's database and a random number generator to pick some names. I usually generate 3-10 numbers and then look at those names (the SSA ranks names by popularity).

For example, if Jake was born about 1994, I called up 5 random numbers between 1 and 100, referenced back to the SSA list and got:
95 Lucas
15 John (big help there.)
100 Vincent
4 Joshua (again.)
18 Anthony

And I do that until I find a name that strikes me or get bored. ;)

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/
http://www.random.org/integers/

Rachelle Christensen said...

What a fun idea! How about Cody or Damien or Gavin?

It is so hard to choose names and I feel for you having to change one.

Stacy said...

Derek, Vance, Drew, or Skylar

Taffy said...

Austin
Michael
Trevor
Brooks

Susan G. Haws said...

Darn! Tamara took my name so pick it anyway. I knew a young man that fit that discription. Great at football and baseball and chess and not a mean bone in his body. Named Mike. If not choose William, Kenneth, or Sherman.

Joyce DiPastena said...

Phil. It's my brother's name. He'd love to see himself killed off in a book. ;-)

Danyelle Ferguson said...

Ok - I love R names. So the two I think fit your character's description are Rob or Ryan. With all the J's and the T, you need a name that begins with a softer sound, like R or A. Good luck choosing the name! =)

Landi said...

Mother dear.....you need to simmer down with the giveaways on your book....you still want people to read it...ha ha jk. My vote is for- Kyle, eric, Mark or Brett. Those names are definatly student body president material. Or Edward-NOT! :) but if you want it to start with a softer sound....I know a great R name! ;)

Unknown said...

I like Christopher (Christ for short).......(Always good to throw in a name with "Christ" in it). Plus it was a very popular name 20 to 30 years ago so very believable. Guessing on the age of your character.

Unknown said...

I meant Chris for short......funny.

Christine said...

I'm gonna say Steven, Sam, Nathan or Xan (Xander). Very fun contest. Good luck choosing.

Anonymous said...

Greg
Scott
Tom

Tom's pretty nondescript and timeless as names go. :) Good luck choosing!

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