I had heard of one of my favorite authors, Australian crime/mystery writer Jane Harper, who had auctioned off a chance to be a character in her fourth novel, The Survivors. Ms. Harper mentioned the two people who had the winning bid in the Acknowledgements, and spoke of them becoming two of her favorite characters.

Jane Harper is a famous, accomplished author and while I thought the idea was very creative, I’m not in her league. And then the person charged with publicity and planning the Missing Pieces book launch party thought it would be a great idea. I ended up auctioning off Name a Character not once but TWICE. These were organizations whose missions I believe in.  COMPAS believes that creativity is found within all of us and creative education sparks imagination, empowers voices, and helps people to build better lives. The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation is a major social services agency in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The most surprising (and humbling) thing was the amount of interest in chance to become a character in my next book, but that there were bidding wars. Now I have two very excited winners. I’ll visit with each of them to discuss the basics of their character – good, bad, dead? To my delight, the women characters of Missing Pieces have become favorites so follow-up is in the works. But I have to confess, the pressure is on!