Name my characters, why don’t ya?

Geez Louise! I never thought I’d write one book and here I am starting my third. I’m either destined to be a novelist or you’re all destined to hear the rantings of a crazy lady.

Anywho, I’m in the outlining stage, also known as the honeymoon phase for us writers, and I can use your help out there. I want you guys to name two of my characters!

Fun, yeah?

Here’s a brief background for you to ponder before choosing the names from the polls below.

Baseball TicketsI had this crazy discovery last summer when I bought a vintage handbag here in Milwaukee and I found some artifacts from 1954 – two baseball tickets, and a shopping list on the back of a voting receipt.

Sixty years ago, people! How cool is that?!

I wrote a post about it, because I was so freaking excited! This was back when I first started blogging and nobody knew who the hell I was, so you can check out The Clues in the Vintage Handbag if you want.

I daydreamed about who the owner of the handbag might have been, and pictured three different women. So, my brother-in-law pointed out that it looked like I had the skeleton of a decent story on my hands, and he was right. (Thanks, Shawn!)

And, here we are.

My working title is The Bra Game. The story will bounce back and forth between the woman who discovers the handbag and clues in somewhat modern day to the three women she imagines as the possible owners back in 1954. The three women were previously connected as baseball players in the All American Girls Baseball League at the tail end of World War II.

Since I adore strong female characters, these unconventional athletes are right up my alley. We know that when the men came home, the women were expected to ditch their wartime duties, and make lots of babies and pies.

But, what about the women who were different?

So, there’s your teaser.

This is a completely different project for me as it will be a departure from my previous thrillers, and more of an exploration of social issues. Rather than an international locale, this is all about Chicago in the fifties…an all-American romp, if you will.

And, instead of one main character, I have three! I’ve got one named because her name hit me like a ton of bricks, and so it must be.

But, I still have two more to name…and here’s where you come in.

1950s woman with ray bans

CHARACTER #1

In a Nutshell: Feisty Italian-American Tomboy
Classic Movie Star Twin: Audrey Hepburn
Baseball Position: Catcher, Bunter-Stealer
Occupation: Photographer

CHARACTER #2

In a Nutshell: Busty Polish-American Sex Kitten
Classic Movie Star Twin: Marilyn Monroe
Baseball Position: Left Fielder, Left-handed Batter
Occupation: Housewife/Socialite

It would be awesome if you guys would spread the word on this poll of mine…the more, the merrier! The name reveal will take place on February 28th.

ENB_sidebar_coverbtsg sidebar cover

And if you don’t know anything about my previous work, now is the time to check them out. I’m currently offering a whole buck off the entire month of February.

All the details are right here.

42 thoughts on “Name my characters, why don’t ya?”

  1. That sounds like a really interesting story you’ve got there! And it’s really great how it came to being. Personally, I like Faye for tomboy and Vivian for the sex kitten. 🙂

    1. Thank you! I’m very excited about it. I felt like such a random discovery had to mean something. So, I’m going with it.

      GREAT choices on the names! Can’t wait to see what the results end up being later this month. Then, I can stop calling them the Italian and the Pole. : )

  4. Britt, the story sounds like so much fun. I chose Beatrice for the tomboy because you can shorten her name to Bea … Family would always use her given name but in the world of baseball she could be Bea. And sex kitten … Vivian. Good luck. Can’t wait to hear the final results. Happy writing!

    1. Ooh, I love Bea! My good friend in San Diego has always called me B.

      Vivian’s a good one, and doing pretty well on the poll today. We’ll see what happens. Thanks for voting, Miss Gail!

  5. Okay, with the names, I have one problem. Both of your characters come from ethnic backgrounds that were predominantly Catholic, and so their parents would have given them names of saints. And most likely saints common to their ethnicity. The names you listed seem a stretch, given the background data.

      1. Yeah, but then it require some backstory, which can be fun to create in itself. Of course, Beatrice works well for the Italian character, since she was Dante’s muse, but I voted for Fran, short for Francesca, which supposedly means “free”, and she could really be named after St. Francis. Not sure about the Polish character. I’m sure you could come up with some authentic ones right from the Milwaukee phone book 🙂

  6. You must have been over the moon to find the tickets and the shopping list/receipt in the vintage bag – that is so cool! As is letting us be part of naming your characters, very fun to be a part of your creative process! All the best for these early stages of your third novel 🙂

    1. I truly was…hell, I still am!

      I was having trouble deciding on names, so I thought I would make you guys do the job for me. It’s certainly a fun way to involve more people in the creative journey – one of the perks of being an indie!

    1. Pretty choices, Miss Dianne! Yeah, those Hollywood counterparts are tough to compete with though. There is going to be a comical reference to Marilyn Monroe throughout, as the sex kitten character constantly gets mistaken for her. People always ask for her autograph and want their picture taken with her.

  8. Brilliant idea for a storyline Britt. Can’t wait to see what you make of it. I’ve voted Florence (Flo) for the city, and Evie. In a free vote I’d go for Angeline for the second character but perhaps I’ll keep her up my sleeve.

    1. Thanks so much, Roy! I also liked Flo for short if Florence gets it…and Evie is doing quite well in the poll today. We’ll see!

      Yeah, you better hang onto Angeline…that’s gorgeous!

  10. I love this story idea! And I love that you found fun collectibles in that handbag. So many people would have just thrown them away, and I’m so glad you didn’t. Definitely a story starter.

    I originally wanted to choose ‘Faye’ but I wasn’t sure how Italian that name sounded, so I went with Florence. Although, I like the name ‘Faye’ better. I also chose ‘Evie’ because that screams ‘sex kitten’ to me.

    Can’t wait to find out what you end up choosing!

    1. Thanks for voting, Kate! These are Italian-American and Polish-American gals, so not straight from there. I probably should have specified. I’m going to add a little note on there. : )

  11. I went for Fran, because it sounds like a good tomboyish short form for ‘Francesca’, which is a very likely name for an Italian-American girl. I hesitated between Edie and Evie for the sex kitten, perhaps because I associate Vivian too much with Vivien Leigh.

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