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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 2
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The story I'm writing has three main characters,
Isaac Daffodil
Ivan Violet
and Irving Rose
I have received a few complaints about people getting the characters mixed up. Additionally, some people have called it "gimmicky".
I have a very specific plot reason for giving the characters this connection (Letter I, Flower), and feel a name change is unnecessary.
On a more personal level, I've grown to know these characters by these names, and changing them would just feel wrong to me.
Some people have suggested given the characters more distinct tones to solve this problem, but obviously this is easier said than done (short of giving them silly accents or specific "buzzwords", which to me feels like an actual gimmick, and unfit for the tone.)
Do you find these names easy to mix up? Would you change them for clarity's sake? Do you think a change is unnecessary? Let me know what you think!
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Joined: 5/12/2011
Posts: 240
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Sorry, you have to change those names.
I have had to change character names before and yes--it hurts. But Just. Do. It.
I had a Henry Blake for awhile until a beta reader pointed out that he was the colonel in MASH. Doh! So he became Henry Barrett and it took me forever to get used to, but now I like it loads better.
You'll get used to the new names.
I like to give main characters names that have a little something meaningful or clever about them, but try to keep it subtle. So, for instance, my two MCs in one story have the last names Brewer and Vintner. It isn't super-glaring, but kinda cute if you're paying attention. Likewise, when I want to name a character something symbolic or evocative of another story or theme, I sometime find that thing in another language (it has to suit the character's national/ethnic background though). So I've got a "Tiria" which mean earth or farm or land in Welsh. She's my "Adam" (which means earth or dirt in Hebrew) to her love interest, "Eva." It's there, but it's subtle enough (I hope) to keep readers from going "oh puh-leeeez!"
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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
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The names do seem awfully contrived, but there is another reason why people keep getting them mixed up. It has to do with your used of them all starting with the letter I. There is a actually a rule in screenwriting that you should never have characters with names that start with the same first letter because then people can't keep them straight. Its how the brain works. We don't read the full word, we see the first and last letters. Have you ever gotten that email where only the end and beginning of a word were recognizable but the letters in the middle were all jumbled up? Think about it for a minute. We type slower than we read, so you might not have any problem. They are also your characters, you know them, but your audience may not get them because they can't tell them apart. I suggest changing the names unless the "I" is especially meaningful.
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Joined: 10/20/2011
Posts: 350
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I have to agree it seems "gimmicky," especially the last names. I don't know where the story is set, but only "Rose" strikes me as a plausible last name in the English world. If you want the flower name, perhaps follow LilySea's advice to make it more subtle. Try looking up the names of different flowers in other languages. See if some of them sound better with your names.
I understand the reluctance to change a character's name. Right now I have two reviews on my story, The Wedding Game. One reviewer is intrigued by my choice of the name "Christian" for my heroine; the other is confused by it and said she kept expecting a boy to show up. I am going to stick by Christian for now, as it is an appropriate girl's name in the story's time period. But I have the idea of changing it in the back of my mind in case more reviewers say it is confusing.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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The big issue is definitely with the fact that the names all start with I. The flower thing could be another issue. I read a book where the MC and her sisters were all named flower names and I simply could not keep them all straight.
I agree with the screenwriting rule of not repeating first initials among major characters. (I tend to try to eliminate repeats among the secondaries that show up more than in one scene, too.)
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Joined: 1/8/2012
Posts: 2
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I have to agree with others that it does seem gimmicky, although I guess it depends on the tone of the book. If it's supposed to be surreal then maybe the similar names could be excusable. But first of all, it just doesn't seem realistic. As Bob answered earlier, I wouldn't expect such a coincidence to occur in real life. You might feel attached to the names because you're used to them, but that's not the most important thing. What's most important is creating distinct characters.
And that brings me to my other concern, which is that the characters just might not be interesting enough. The similar names aside, you might have a problem if readers can't tell the characters apart from each other. It might help to think more about your characters' personalities, backstories, etc. and that might help. But even so, I'd suggest trying a name change.
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Joined: 6/13/2011
Posts: 3
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Sometimes, you just have to change their names.
I had to change my main character's spelling, because it didn't make any sense. It took me a few weeks to get used to the name change, but that's what drafts are for--to iron out those things that don't work in the story.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 412
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unless the reason turns out to be that they are fake names in one manner or another, and they were named that way on purpose, for in story reasons, dump it.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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I agree that it can take forever to get accustomed to a name change. I did it on one project and when the characters finally came to agreement with me on what their new names should be it was a relief. But thinking about those characters (the project is currently gathering dust in the black drawer of shelved projects), I still want to call them by their original names.
It's hard to rename characters but it can be rewarding. And you may find that when you do rename the characters, their personalities start to shine through a little more and you're able to turn them into distinct people in their own right.
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