Anyone else have trouble keeping the names straight when reading a story?

[Prince of Spires]

Do you have a series bible, yet? I'm exactly the same way. If I spend too much time away, my brain turns into a sieve and suddenly I have no idea what these people look like, or their names. Music can help stimulate my memory, but really it's terrible, so we use OneNote to organize the whole thing. It can be shared with the rest of my team, it saves instantly, and that way we can make notes and changes in real time.

I do. I've actually stolen your idea and use OneNote in a similar fashion after you mentioned it here a few times. It works great and it's very intuitive.

The big problem is learning what to write down, and then remembering to actually do so. Like the smell I mentioned earlier. When I started the current bible I would never have thought that writing down what one character smelled like to another would be something I wanted to remember. Even more so because said character was initially just a random side-character who appeared in two chapters. But he somehow found a way to make himself important and become the love interest of a main character, which suddenly made him a lot more important...

It's things like that. Just remembering to write down the name of a random side character who just pops in for a few lines but needs a name. Or a quick and innocent description of a place, which suddenly becomes a lot more important at the end of the story. Or any of another dozen things which you quickly write down because you need something, but which then come back to haunt you....

 

[Amabaie]

I always have problems with names.

The first time I read Lord of the Rings, I got so confused between Sauron and Saruman well into the story. And don't get me started on Éomer and Éowyn! Keeping names short is a good idea, sometimes, but keeping them distinct is more important.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Yeah, Saruman and Sauron got me, not so much in the books where it was clearer, but when chatting LoTR back in the day, it was really easy to conflate the two characters.

I always have problems with names.

The first time I read Lord of the Rings, I got so confused between Sauron and Saruman well into the story. And don't get me started on Éomer and Éowyn! Keeping names short is a good idea, sometimes, but keeping them distinct is more important.

 

[pmmg]

I thought a lot in LORT was too similar, but I was young then. I might think differently if I read it today. I kind felt, even though the names were different, all the hobbits seemed like the same character to me.

 

[Amabaie]

I thought a lot in LORT was too similar, but I was young then. I might think differently if I read it today. I kind felt, even though the names were different, all the hobbits seemed like the same character to me.

So true. There is a Hobbit character. Then again there is a general stereotyping of the different races inhabiting Middle Earth.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

All the Hobbits felt the same? Huh. Didn't hit me that way, and I was 12. Now, the dwarves in the Hobbit would be insane, but they were damned near a comedy troupe, you didn't need to keep them straight, heh heh.

 

[ThinkerX]

Hmmm...

In the hobbit, only a few of the dwarves actually stood out - Bombur because he was so fat, Thorin because of his importance, and a couple of the others.

In LOTR, Frodo and Sam came across as very distinct characters. Merry and Pippen were distinct from those two, but almost interchangeable. Never did have difficulty keeping Sauron and Saruman separate. Did wonder about the identities of the Nazgul.

 

[Rexenm]

I’m always pronouncing names wrong, in my innocence. Names like Cluny the Scourge and Burrich come to mind.

 

[luthierwnc]

I've only written two things so far but they are huge with hundreds of characters. To help, I run an Excel sheet as I write with character and place names, new nouns and verbs and what they mean, character relationships (son, aunt, wicked uncle), which chapter they're introduced and often where in the mythical world they live. Doesn't take very long. In the LOTR fan-fic I did a couple years ago I stopped counting at 384 entries -- maybe 60% names -- and those are only people who have more than one entry so not waiters or the crazy old woman at the well. sh

 

[ThinkerX]

I've only written two things so far but they are huge with hundreds of characters. To help, I run an Excel sheet as I write with character and place names, new nouns and verbs and what they mean, character relationships (son, aunt, wicked uncle), which chapter they're introduced and often where in the mythical world they live. Doesn't take very long. In the LOTR fan-fic I did a couple years ago I stopped counting at 384 entries -- maybe 60% names -- and those are only people who have more than one entry so not waiters or the crazy old woman at the well. sh

It is not so much about you keeping the characters straight as it is the readers keeping the characters straight. Otherwise, you have a high risk of characters becoming little more than 'lists of weird names' that don't really register with the reader.

What I did throughout the Empire series was to divide the secondary characters into groups. Each group tended to associate with a specific POV character. Each chapter was told from a single POV. Hence, in 'Empire: Capital' (book 2) Tia associated with the lady's maids in the palace (three or four of whom stood out) in most of her chapters, while Sir Peter Cortez partied with his old knightly comrades (and again three or four stood out). That way, the reader associated these secondary characters with given POV's. (And yes, there was crossover - a couple of Peter's knightly buddies were very interested in Tia, among other things.)

 

[Lynea]

I don't get confused very often, but currently I've been reading this book where I struggle to keep track of all the characters. I suppose it's because there's no emotional connection built by the author. Like, they just don't jump out at me.

 

[alexander8]

yea i found it especially hard in game of thrones where so many new characters were introduced, and often had only small parts before dying.

 

[luthierwnc]

The Excel list is also so I don't repeat names or make them too similar. Even more important; it's so I don't use a throw-away name on a character who later becomes important. Guy walks into a bar -- you're furiously writing and need a couple names for the mercenary and the smuggler waiting at a table. I just invent them from thin air or will even type in &(*&)(*&&)( knowing I'll go back when I've thought more about what to call them. I'm not above stealing a really good name from the third spear-carrier. sh

 

[pmmg]

I'm not above stealing a really good name from the third spear-carrier. sh

Sounds like something there should be a support group for.