: Re: Characters with non-standard names My characters' names are always easy-to-read and easy-to-remember because they are common western names (like John or Oscar). However, I am writing a story that

While unfamiliar names can make reading a little more difficult, I think it would be disconcerting if a story set in another culture used American names. I would definitely find it odd if all the Arabs are named Bob and Mary and the alien from Aldebaran IV is named Harold Smith.

On the other hand, I'd avoid names that are difficult for your readers to pronounce, or at least to guess at a pronunciation. If you are inventing a make-believe culture, don't give the characters names like Brzdwdlza and Qv'Lc#*x. You can make them strange enough without making them unpronounceable, like Barzdalza and Quivlax. If you're setting the story in a real culture, you might try to pick names that at least look pronounceable to English readers. And as Jonathan said, avoid picking names that look similar. When you're dealing with common English names, calling one character Jack and another Jake might be a minor source of confusion. This would be many times so with unfamiliar names, like Jagwan and Jugwen.

Load Full (0)

: Techniques for creating variety in prose When I write my short stories, I usually end up using a direct style as follows: Tim remembered the day he had to say goodbye to Cathy. He did

@Annie587

Load Full 5 Comments

: Referring to people in a book I'm writing a book (travelogue) about Japan, comparing it to Sweden, where I'm from. During my travels I communicated mostly in Japanese but occasionally in English

@Annie587

Load Full 2 Comments

: Overusing "the" and "I" I'm not a native English speaker, and I find that my English writing contains too many definite article "the" when writing scientific reports, and too many "I" when writing

@Annie587

Load Full 6 Comments

: What kind of rhythm should I use for these settings? I am not particularly experienced with using rhythm in creative writing so please note that I am only a beginner. By "rhythm" I am referring

: Re: Characters with non-standard names My characters' names are always easy-to-read and easy-to-remember because they are common western names (like John or Oscar). However, I am writing a story that

More posts by @Annie587

: Techniques for creating variety in prose When I write my short stories, I usually end up using a direct style as follows: Tim remembered the day he had to say goodbye to Cathy. He did

: Referring to people in a book I'm writing a book (travelogue) about Japan, comparing it to Sweden, where I'm from. During my travels I communicated mostly in Japanese but occasionally in English

: Overusing "the" and "I" I'm not a native English speaker, and I find that my English writing contains too many definite article "the" when writing scientific reports, and too many "I" when writing

: What kind of rhythm should I use for these settings? I am not particularly experienced with using rhythm in creative writing so please note that I am only a beginner. By "rhythm" I am referring

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top