Personalized Mini-Novels

I wrote:

> ...in
> Dec. 2000 I posted a (brief) post about a
> charity auction.... The item being auctioned
> was the name of a character in a novel - the
> character would be named after you! That's
> in ALL copies of the novel - you would be
> "immortalized" in the world of
> fiction!

I found an article about this event.... You can read about it here.... (I've also put the article below.)

And the idea is being repeated. Here's a more recent announcement about the same kind of thing....

I realize this wasn't quite what you were asking about, Mitch, but I thought it was interesting anyhow...!

- Dien

Novel roles up for sale

A select band of book fans could find themselves on the pages of their favourite author's next book, thanks to a charity auction taking place on Tuesday.

Louis de Bernieres, Hanif Kureishi, Rose Tremain and Nick Hornby are just a few of the names taking part in the auction.

If the price is right the bidder can buy the right to become a character in a forthcoming novel by these or other writers.

Jim Crace, who won the Whitbread prize with his book Quarantine, is taking part in the project.

He said: "Hopefully, people who feel passionately about literature will see this as a great opportunity to grab 15 paragraphs of fame."

But he added: "Of course, if they bid a great deal of money they are going to want a bigger showing than that."

Money raised from the auction, at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in London, will go to the charity The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

Prospective bidders should watch out, however.

Last October Scotish crime writer Ian Rankin offered the chance to appear in his latest novel in an auction in aid of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.

But Rankin would not reveal who exactly the character would be, nor whether it would be a baddie, and nor will the writers in this auction.