Before I ever started writing, I loved art. When doing exam revision, I'm a 'visual learner' (aka pictures help me more than pnumonics or whatever). This means that reading books is sometimes difficult if one of the characters has a strange name, or one I associate with someone else.Let me explain. Last week, I read FRACTURE by Megan Miranda. Great book, great characters, but the main character's best friend is called DECKER. I don't know if it's popular in America, but in the UK, 'Decker' = Double Decker Buses and Decker Bars. I couldn't really take him seriously after that.
And then there was the other boy - Troy. Yes, Zac Efron featured heavily in my mind when reading Fracture (not a bad thing, but y'know).
And then there was the other boy - Troy. Yes, Zac Efron featured heavily in my mind when reading Fracture (not a bad thing, but y'know).
And then I read THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. The main character, Hadley (female) falls in love with Oliver (male). I enjoyed it twice as much because I laughed almost the whole time, even at the unfunny bits. Why? Because there's a pair of beefy 'jock' male twins at my school called...yep, you've guessed it, Hadley and Oliver. Hadley's a rare, but definitely male name, in the UK. An ordinary plane-trip romance became suddenly hilarious, and at least three-quarters of my friends have now read it for the LOLs.
Has anyone else read a book where the names totally change it? Or where you had to stop because the love interest sounded like a carbon copy of your brother (ick)? And what are some of your favourite names in YA fiction, funny or otherwise?
Has anyone else read a book where the names totally change it? Or where you had to stop because the love interest sounded like a carbon copy of your brother (ick)? And what are some of your favourite names in YA fiction, funny or otherwise?
Could not stop laughing or get past a male MC name once. It was "Deuce". I know it was meant as a reference to the card, but here in US it is sometimes used, (specifically by my little brother) as "dropping a deuce" when someone takes a poop. Ew! So gross, and completely juevenile, I know, but I could not take that character seriously, AT ALL. Still laughing...
ReplyDeleteHaha,I can imagine that might put you off! x
DeleteHaha wow those are fun. No I haven't had any issues with names, some I'm not as fond of...but don't have a problem reading it. Who knows maybe I'll have one of those fun moments in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe whole YA name thing is completely out of control. I blogged about it a few weeks back:
ReplyDeletehttp://angelhorn.com/2012/03/08/a-modest-proposal-to-solve-the-ya-heroheroine-naming-crisis-and-giveaway/
I couldn't help but see Elder in Across the Universe as a Mormon missionary and therefore a bit of a dweeb.
Haha! That's hilarious. I haven't had too many problems with weird character names, but there was one book where the author switched the spelling of common names like Jennifer to Zhynefar...that got old really fast.
ReplyDelete