A question regarding weird characters

[Beef]

A very brief question I thought i'd pose, regarding the other sorts of characters, ie. the squiggly lines on the page rather than the participants in the story.

I'm getting to the stage of revision where I have to give my characters names that don't sound like placeholders, and am considering calling my main character 'Qūrah' (as in 'koo-ra'). My question: Is that weird 'u' going to annoy readers/editors/agents/publishers/everyone else?

 

[Anne Lyle]

Is there a good reason why you need a macron over the 'u' (e.g. that's how the name is spelt in a real-world language)? If not, I'd leave it off, otherwise it looks like you're using diacritics for the sake of looking cool, even if that's not your intent.

 

[Beef]

It's a transliteration of an Arabic name, which is the direction the world seems to be going in.

 

[sinister42]

I think weird names can work - look at Dune - Muad'Dib, for example, fits your profile. Also, Duncan Idaho. Duncan Idaho?? As long as it fits within the mythos of the story in a way that the reader can grasp and relate to, I say go for it.

 

[Mouse]

Not a fan of weird character names myself. I've put books down because of daft names.

 

[DaCosta]

If I can't pronounce the name, then I have trouble identifying with a character. It's not a killer, but it's irritating and it becomes an issue when reading/writing reviews and word-of-mouth. At least, with me it does. But I'm not the most patient of people.

 

[Bowler1]

And I love the daft names and Dune had loads. I think, for SciFi, it makes it clear we're on a different world or culture. However, as per Mouse above, not everyone will like it. Write first, get those words down and let your agent if you ever get there, worry about the finer details, after all, what's in a name? Certainly nothing that can't be fixed by a Word find and replace.

 

[JackoLantern]

you can get it to work if the world is better for it. the weird names in cthulhu deepen the world, just don't make them daft. I could never read Tekwar because the lead character was called Cardigan...

 

[sinister42]

Weird names can have funny reasons behind them too - look at Ford Prefect.

Yeah, Cthulhu is great example of this phenomenon. You look at that and think "how in the heck is that pronounced and what the hell?" But Lovecraft is such an adept storyteller that you immediately buy into Cthulhu and his name becomes a part of the power of his mythos.

 

[thaddeus6th]

It wouldn't put me off. I do dislike over-complicated sci-fi/fantasy names, and if I were writing it I'd go without the line, but it wouldn't irk me.

 

[alchemist]

It's a transliteration of an Arabic name, which is the direction the world seems to be going in.

Given this rationale, it isn't weird anymore. Go for it.

 

[Laeraneth]

Wouldn't put me off at all, but then, I'm writing something with an accent on one name and whacky spelling (with a mispronounced alternative by someone who doesn't know their language) on another.

It's a pretty commonly accented letter (é, for the record) and the average* reader would know exactly what it means for pronunciation. Any other spelling of the name to SOUND the same (like -ey, -eh, -ay, etc) looked goofy as hell, thus it remains

That said, another character doesn't have any funny accents, but their name is quite intentionally spelt in a way that would make the average* native english reader possibly go "what the hell is that combination of letters supposed to sound like?" (hence the alternative by the character who has a similar issue with it!)

In short, I'm trying to use real world linguistic styles and commonalities for specific parts and locations of my world. So someone from continent A might have russian(ish) spellings and pronunciations. Someone from continent B might be more of a chinese style, nation X of continent B might be flavoured towards a more celtic style.

You get the idea.

Personally, I have no problem with accents and weird spellings provided they're there with a good reason.

* my idea of average may be totally wrong of course... but that's what willing victims for critiquing and sampling my book are for once it's done

 

[Mr Orange]

.....and the average* reader would know exactly what it means for pronunciation. Any other spelling of the name to SOUND the same (like -ey, -eh, -ay, etc) looked goofy as hell, thus it remains

i think that is key: that the average reader will get the accent and pronounce it in their head the way you want them to...

you can't do it on here now you've sounded it out already, but i would give the name to a few people and see how they pronounce it...

as an aside, i would prefer to see a european accent as the flat accent looks a bit, well, flat to me. something like this: Qúrah

but that could just be me

 

[Anne Lyle]

as an aside, i would prefer to see a european accent as the flat accent looks a bit, well, flat to me. something like this: Qúrah

Different accents have different meanings. My feeling is you should either go with the correct one for the real-world language (a macron usually indicates a long vowel) or not bother.

I expect that a lot of people don't know what to do with the umlauts in the skraylings' ancient tongue in my fantasy series, but I borrowed it from Native American languages that use it to denote a nasal vowel (like the end of French bon)

 

[Gumboot]

I don't mind weird names, but I absolutely loathe "generic made-up fantasy language" names. Particularly if every single culture in this vast and diverse landscape seems to use exactly the same language.

You might not be able to pinpoint the exact language, but you can usually identify the family of languages a word belongs to just by looking at it. I like fictional writing to do the same thing.

The five Lords of Elderbrune solemnly stood; Duke Aider, half buried in yards of silk, Prince Jerun, steely and resolved, the Count Lydin, brandishing his massive war axe, Duke Hulsten, smirking confidently. Last of all, his heavy brow creased in a disapproving frown, rose the Marquis of Eleron, Kizv'iklu Neir'lcht.

No.

 

[chrispenycate]

I expect that a lot of people don't know what to do with the umlauts in the skraylings' ancient tongue in my fantasy series, but I borrowed it from Native American languages that use it to denote a nasal vowel (like the end of French bon)

An umlaut is convenient, since it exists on practically everybody's keyboard (Though differently placed on many. I can't even find a macron on this one, which would involve a tortuous search in 'character set' every time to use it). But it does have very specific uses in different languages; in German (for the umlaut) it replaces an 'e' (as in "Zürich" can also be spelt "Zuerich"), in English (where it's a diaeresis, or dieresis) or French (where it's a trema), it prevents a pair of vowels becoming a diphthong, keeping them separated, and in Finnish I have no idea what it does but wishing ctg happy birthday comes out as "Hyvää syntymäpäivää" which looks as if it is probably quite important. And none are equivalent to the French terminal nasal 'n'.

 

[hopewrites]

Any name can look weird out of context.

Sejena, Muna, Harriet, Rohan, Pippan, Michael, Ewan, Mikkan, Janice, Zenaido, Rannaa, Terell, T'lon, Apple, Thor...
until meaning is given to a set of letters, that's all they are. A set of letters.

 

[Mr Orange]

An umlaut is convenient, since it exists on practically everybody's keyboard (Though differently placed on many. I can't even find a macron on this one, which would involve a tortuous search in 'character set' every time to use it). But it does have very specific uses in different languages; in German (for the umlaut) it replaces an 'e' (as in "Zürich" can also be spelt "Zuerich"), in English (where it's a diaeresis, or dieresis) or French (where it's a trema), it prevents a pair of vowels becoming a diphthong, keeping them separated, and in Finnish I have no idea what it does but wishing ctg happy birthday comes out as "Hyvää syntymäpäivää" which looks as if it is probably quite important. And none are equivalent to the French terminal nasal 'n'.

if i saw an umlaut in a name i would try to give it the same purpose as the german umlaut, as that's what i'm used to. the same way if i saw an accent over a vowel i would emphasise that vowel as the spanish do. because that's what i'm used to. if i saw a flat macron i would have no idea what to do but would probably do the spanish thing again (which, incidentally more of less gets the desired result).

which all brings me back to my earlier point that if the reader reads the name the way you want it to sounds, then the accents work..

 

[Anne Lyle]

And none are equivalent to the French terminal nasal 'n'.

This is why I only used it in a few snatches of dialogue, and not in names.

Actually, I've not checked how my audiobook narrator pronounced them. Since they never asked me, I'm pretty sure they'll have got it wrong

 

[lowerheaven]

Its not so bad. Especially if some where within the storyline you teach someone how its pronounced. If it's too hard to make out, I usually make up a sound in my head and keep going.