Okay, y'all. I need to gauge the weirdness of some names.
I have these two characters and I'd been calling them Holly and Ivie, but last night (really late and probably after I'd taken an Ambien) I decided to change their names. The change was primarily because of some really important plot stuff that I can't get into without giving too much away, but also because of the fact that some really well-selling books from a genre similar to this one were headed by a protag named Holly.
I chose the names Sila and Sanna. Now, these *specific* names were chosen, like I said, for important plot stuff I don't want to get into, though aesthetically I'd probably have chosen something different. (Yanno, like Holly and Ivie.)
But are they too weird?
And is it worse that they're supposed to be pronounced with a Sh? ('Sheelah,' and
'Shanna.')
How do you feel about book characters with weird names?
Vote:
4 comments:
We're bad blog friends, what with everyone voting for each individual option and leaving you, as yet, with no plurality.
is there such a thing as bad blog friends?! it's a myth, I think. ;-)
I think weird names are distracting. Sorry. Also, stop writing on Ambien. :)
but when you write on Ambien, it gets to be a surprise the next day!
so, barb, would you call 'Sila' and 'Sanna' "weird?"
really weird names distract me, too. but sometimes simple-looking weird names don't bug me, cuz, whatever.
I think those names don't *look* too weird, though when I looked up the pronunciation it got weirder. But I spent like two hours googling and those were the only names that were both from the ethnic tradition I needed AND were remotely pronounceable AND that had the meaning I needed them to have. (And actually, the meanings they have totally rocks. Makes my plot more awesome, too, actually.)
So, they grow on me. But I confess, I don't read them as "Sheelah" and "Shanna," like they're supposed to be. I read them as "Cilla" and "San-uh"
oh well. I'll decide later. ;-)
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