MASH my novel!

[readingredhead]

Usually I go into November knowing everything (or at least feeling like I know everything) about the story that I’m about to write. Not so this year! I do know that it’s told in the first person by a female narrator who has been suffering all her life from a ‘mental illness’ (or so they’ve told her) that causes her to believe that she is physically transported to different locations while she sleeps, wearing whatever she has on when she falls asleep. She is in her mid-twenties, out of college, with an entry-level job and has mostly decided to treat this as a mental issue that she has more-or-less in check. But then, in one of her dreams, she has an intense encounter with a man (literally of her dreams!) and this leads her on a quest to see whether there is any method to what she has previously considered only as madness.

But I don’t know where she lives or what her name is or what she looks like, etc. etc. Spurred on by the brilliant idea of a friend, I have decided to figure these out via that favorite game of pre-teen schoolgirls: MASH. For those of you unfamiliar, essentially in MASH you list out five possibilities for a number of different categories (ex. future husband’s name, number of children, location of honeymoon, etc.) and then follow a pattern to determine your future more or less at random. I’ve decided to do this with character features, jobs, etc.! I can come up with some of the possibilities on my own, but one of the best parts of MASH is that, frequently, friends who you play the game with are asked to provide possibilities for categories — and if they’re anything like my elementary school friends, they’ll suggest that you should end up with 14 children, married to that boy in the back row who smells funny, driving a cardboard box with wheels.

So what this all boils down to is, I’d love to have some offered suggestions in the following categories!

Female names

Male names

Jobs

Cars

Locations (can be cities, countries, geographical spaces, etc.)

Pets

These will then be distributed between my MC and her parents, siblings, friends, and love interest(s) in the order that they are offered up. On October 28 (earlier if I get enough input), I will go through the list and discover the details of my main character and the world she lives in. And then, I’ll write!

(Seriously, this is the most excited I've been about my novel in ages. I'm excited!)

Comments

[pippins-smile.livejournal.com]

I haven't named any of mine yet, either! AHH!


Female names: Danielle, Cora, Abigail

Male names: Jonathan, Derek, Jason

Jobs: Teacher, food critic, advice columnist

Cars: Old but reliable Honda, obnoxious and flawed but lovable PT Cruiser *cough*, Prius

Locations (can be cities, countries, geographical spaces, etc.): Upstate New York, Tennessee, Santa Barbara

Pets: A fish with a name longer than he is, a cat who plays fetch (mine used to!), an old dog

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

By any chance do you know of the humuhumunukunukuapua'a (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humu%C2%ADhumu%C2%ADnuku%C2%ADnuku%C2%AD%C4%81pua%CA%BBa)? I learned about it in early childhood (quite likely via Magic School Bus) and have never forgotten it. Talk about a fish with a name longer than it is!

I think you should name one of your characters Constantine. Or Josephus. Or Susanna. :)

Also, you had better win this year because I have already stumbled across the perfect victory gift.

[pippins-smile.livejournal.com]

I have in fact heard of it, and I definitely thought of it while making that suggestion. I learned about it on a family vacation to Hawaii. :)

What about just plain old Joseph? I like Constantine, despite the fact that I just read the play "The Seagull". Have you read or seen it?

That comment sparked excitement, panic, and encouragement on my part, by the way. And guess what? I found something for you, too. :)

Um, okay...

[http://Jordy/Chigaijin/ (from livejournal.com)]

Glad I was able to provide inspiration...*raised eyebrow*

Female names: Marike, Evelyn, Stephanie

Male names: Theo (pronounced "tay-oh", not "thee-oh"), Chris, Khoi

Jobs: junior programmer for a biotech company, something at a small record label, glassblower (not for main character?)

Cars: ++Prius (silver), deep red Odyssey (not sure if these exist, but...), no car but an old blue road bike

Locations: Seattle (or some small town near Seattle), Paraguay, Smart Alec's.

Pets: one old dog (black and white Retriever, possibly dead by the time story starts), cockatiels, ferret

Actually, glad this revived interest in the story, cause the concept sounds really great. Okay, back to work for me!

Re: Um, okay...

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

I was on the lookout for a crazy way to re-energize my notions about this story. The superficial details can more or less be adapted however I want; the core details I already know are rather flexible to things like names, times, and places. I promise I'll let you know how it turns out! :)

[hodgetopodge.livejournal.com]

Female names: Amber, Suzie, Trudy

Male names: Batman, Ecgwine, Marvin

Jobs: Civil War re-enactment dude, Batman, maths textbook editor, professional sock darner, hurdy gurdy builder, foot binder, banker, soap maker, haberdasher, satan

Cars: Cadillac, old pair of boots

Locations (can be cities, countries, geographical spaces, etc.): Spokane, Morocco, Davy Byrne's Pub, the Danelaw, Boulder (Colorado), Jupiter (Florida), boulder (y'know), Jupiter (the planet), Mount Olympos, a speakeasy, duct tape factory

Pets: ferret, tribble, goldfish (the fourth to share its name), snail, baby alligator

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

You are a godsend. Particularly for tribble, satan, boulder (y'know), and the duct tape factory. Now I'm really pulling for a lot of these choices to show up. I was literally just about to go through with the game of MASH when I saw you'd posted this! :)

[hodgetopodge.livejournal.com]

Go ahead and leave out Batman. Like I really cared about Batman.