//lit/
File: 1234.jpg (117.9 KB)
117.9 KB
I've written about 25,000 words and have shown a bit to my friends and family for opinions. One person said that the name "Isaac" for the protagonist was not as memorable as names like "Jack Ryan" or "Frodo Baggins". Do not make intellectual judgments about this person. They were mostly focused on phonetics. But this is quite subjective. I think I can see how "Frodo" has a rhythm to it that "Isaac" does not. Or am I just taking this too much to heart? This is a big deal because this character's name is actually extremely relevant to the themes of the story.
Showing all 5 replies.
>>
>>25328097
My name is Ishmael.
>>
>>25328099
Well that's fair. Maybe I SHOULD make intellectual judgments about the person, keep "Isaac" and move on. Maybe booklets are irrelevant here.
>>
>>25328097
He doesn't have a last name?
>>
>>25328127
He does. "Gunsmoke"
Often referred to as "Son of Smoke"
This is far less important than his name being "Isaac" though.
>>
>>25328132
It's probably more about the rhythm, syllables and feel of the name than anything. Starting with a vowel, followed by a soft consonant, then ending with a hard consonant is very unusual for English names. Because it's so unusual, having to say the name in your head all the time doesn't feel comfortable for the reader.

I'm assuming there's a biblical allusion to your Isaac, so it's up to you whether you think it matters enough to change.

Reply to Thread #25328097


Supported: JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, WebM, MP4, MP3 (max 4MB)