  Mystery
This week: What's in a Name? Everything. Edited by: esprit  
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Avoid the stumbling blocks that break the spell of your story
A stumbling block is the 'huh?' factor, the 'no way!' factor. It's something that stops your readers in their tracks, something that makes them pull out of your story for a moment, or something that makes them uneasy, irritated, not willing to surrender themselves to the story you are weaving. It makes them do what you don't want them to do: stop reading.
The first of many possible stumbling blocks is the stumbling block of odd names. You call your heroine Veshurpiamalee Brown. The first time your reader sees that they'll go 'Huh?' They'll start expecting a very good explanation indeed for such an odd name. If you don't give them one you'll lose their willingness to trust you. In the same way, if you call your aristocratic love interest Lord Elmer Sheepshead, they'll go 'No way!' You haven't a hope of convincing them that the lovely Natasha is going to fall for a guy called Elmer Sheepshead, nobleman or not.
Caro Clarke |
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Amazon's Price: $ 4.99
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What's in a Name?
What's in a name? Everything.
A name conjures up images in a reader's mind of what the character looks like, and what kind of person he is. Names can help show the culture and the era of the world you're building too. Chances are slim that the name 'Bunny or Rex Larue" would be used as a legal name generations ago. They would be common as stage names though, on one of 'those' stages. Research names for the period and culture settings of your story. Try to create names that are pronounceable by the general audience. If the reader has no idea how to pronounce a name, they'll become annoyed and annoyance is a big distraction. They can't get to know the character as the writer intended, and they might begin to root for the minor character whose name they can say. Phonetic spelling is easier to say, even with made-up names. If the reader must go to a list at the front of the book to learn how to sound out a name, it really puts a drag in the enjoyment of reading. Don't make readers work too hard.
phonemic orthography
http://www.answers.com/phonetic+spelling?nafid=3#Difference_from_phonetic_transc...
Strong leading men need strong names, as do women. Think of the people you admire and consider strong. Do their names fit them? Who do you see when you hear 'Billybob'? The name has been cliched to show a slow, dim-witted, backwoods character. It would be difficult to transform him into a leading hero. Readers might see a loyal sidekick though.
Naming the characters according to the time and culture of your story is important. If they have a name that doesn't fit, as some do in real life, then give them a great nickname--that works too. Of course, fantasy uses outlandish names--it's part of the genre, but making them pronounceable keeps the readers reading.
Thanks for reading,
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| | | Unknown Secret [13+] #477786
Deep within the realm of my mind lies a secret that may never be revealed.
by Kings  |
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Ask: Format lost when pasting story
I've discovered that posting a story removes formatting. I've tried pasting from Word and text documents. So far I haven't found a way to write a word in italics. Any ideas?
Answer: WdC uses WritingML, not HTML
I write everything on my writing software, using WritingML. That way, I have the original on my computer and it holds its format when copy/pasted onto WdC. Instead of using indent, I double space each paragraph. That saves me the aggravation of having to add spaces after I post. If I want to check how it will look, I use the italic and bold from the software, knowing it will not paste over. WritingML will slow down the spelling/grammar check a bit, but that's a small issue compared to the alternative.
Under Site Navigation there is a link called Site Tools. Open that and scroll to the bottom for WritingML instructions. It's easy once you remember which bracket to use.
Basic Tags
Begin/End Tag - Tag Effect
{b} {/b} Bold
{i} {/i} Italics
{u} {/u} Underlined
{x} {/x} Strikethrough
{center} {/center}Center Align Text
{left} {/left} Left Align Text
{right} {/right} Right Align Text
{indent} No end tag Indent (5 Spaces)
{s} No end tag One Single Space
Editors:
Kate - Writing & Reading
Vivian 
Your guest host this week is esprit |
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Mystery: January 06, 2010 Issue [#3472]
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