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truepennyQ: You are working on a new manuscript you're very excited about when a friend shows you a book you've never heard of. And one of the main characters in that book has the exact same name as one of the characters in your manuscript. What do you do?
Well, first of all, is this a common name (e.g., Stephen), an uncommon but historically real name (Mildmay), a common or uncommon name in a language other than English (Jacqueline Carey's Phedre), or a made-up name (Maiah, the protagonist of the novel I should currently be working on)?
Any of the first three, I laugh, swear, shrug, and carry on. Convergent evolution happens, and it doesn't matter. And people will detect influences in your work whether they're there or not. You can't control that, and trying to outfox it will only make you crazy.
I admit, the fourth scenario would give me a moment's pause, but I think in the end, my reaction would be the same. (I've also read enough sff to notice that even made-up names get reduplicated occasionally. After all, native English speakers are all working with the same toolkit when it comes to putting vowels and consonants together.)
(I would also, I admit, check this published book I'd never heard of to see if the characters themselves are uncomfortably similar. Because that (a.) gets a little Twilight Zone-ish and (b.) would make me want to think about whether the character I'm writing is perhaps a little too much of a type and too little of a character.)
But it also depends on what your relationship to names and naming is. I obsess about names, and once I've decided on a character's name--or if the character comes pre-equipped with a name--I don't change it unless I become utterly convinced that it's wrong. Changing it for lesser reasons will only result in destroying the story (and, yes, I've done that to myself a time or two). So for me, a coincidence of names with some other book matters immeasurably less than having the right name for my characters. Other people may feel differently; if changing a name isn't a big deal to you, and it will make you happier and better able to continue writing and being excited about your project, then go ahead and change it. Because ultimately that's what this boils down to. There's no external reason to worry about it, but if it's screwing up your internal processes, you need to find a way to resolve it.
Q: Will it help if your fans campaign to get you on Daw Books?
A: Thank you, but that's not necessary.
Q: Scott Adams (of "Dilbert" fame) recently claimed on his blog that everything successful can be summed up in one sentence (http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/quality_follows_popularity/) - what would your sentence be for 'Doctrines'?
A: I find that exercise soul-destroying in the extreme. I'm sure it's true, but I don't want to do it. (Dude, I hate trying to write synopses. As![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elisem told me coffeeem once said, "If I could say it in fewer words, I would have!")
Q: What do you think makes it hard for you to get published? Your books are so well written and thought out, I just can't fathom why books like the black magician trilogy (and i love trudi canavan - but it's not quite your calibre *at all*) find success and yours doesn't? I guess thats why i blame the publishers...
A: Objectively speaking, I am one of the minuscule fraction of writers trying to get published who has actually succeeded. So the fact that I have hit a pothole that the state of Illinois would envy is, well, par for the course. Any creative endeavor is a fucking awful way to make a living, if you'll pardon the vulgarity, and especially in the current zombie apocalypse--editors are getting laid off, publishers are wearing sackcloth and ashes, the big box bookstores are running mad in the streets--I'm far from the only one trying to bail out my rowboat with a rusty coffee can.
Also, quality of writing has nothing to do with popularity.
Q: Corambis is portrayed as a sober, industrious place, fantastic with technology but less aware of other aspects of life, particularly the spiritual/imaginative. To what extent (if any) is Corambis an image of (images of) the American North, and in apposition to that, would you consider any aspects of Mélusine/Marathat reflective of the American South?
A: I would agree that the Corambins have a lot in common with Yankees. *g* That said, I don't think the American South, ante- or postbellum, has any greater claim to spiritual/imaginative wisdom than any other part of the United States, and if I located an allegory of the South anywhere in these books, it would be Caloxa and the Mulkist wizards: a largely agrarian society with some valuable traditions which has become corrupted by the practices of its ruling minority. Certainly, one of the models for the Insurgence is the American Civil War. One of the other models is the English Civil War.
Also, I would point out that Corambin spiritual life is flourishing; it's just that the magicians are rationalist technocrats.
[Ask your question(s) here.]
Well, first of all, is this a common name (e.g., Stephen), an uncommon but historically real name (Mildmay), a common or uncommon name in a language other than English (Jacqueline Carey's Phedre), or a made-up name (Maiah, the protagonist of the novel I should currently be working on)?
Any of the first three, I laugh, swear, shrug, and carry on. Convergent evolution happens, and it doesn't matter. And people will detect influences in your work whether they're there or not. You can't control that, and trying to outfox it will only make you crazy.
I admit, the fourth scenario would give me a moment's pause, but I think in the end, my reaction would be the same. (I've also read enough sff to notice that even made-up names get reduplicated occasionally. After all, native English speakers are all working with the same toolkit when it comes to putting vowels and consonants together.)
(I would also, I admit, check this published book I'd never heard of to see if the characters themselves are uncomfortably similar. Because that (a.) gets a little Twilight Zone-ish and (b.) would make me want to think about whether the character I'm writing is perhaps a little too much of a type and too little of a character.)
But it also depends on what your relationship to names and naming is. I obsess about names, and once I've decided on a character's name--or if the character comes pre-equipped with a name--I don't change it unless I become utterly convinced that it's wrong. Changing it for lesser reasons will only result in destroying the story (and, yes, I've done that to myself a time or two). So for me, a coincidence of names with some other book matters immeasurably less than having the right name for my characters. Other people may feel differently; if changing a name isn't a big deal to you, and it will make you happier and better able to continue writing and being excited about your project, then go ahead and change it. Because ultimately that's what this boils down to. There's no external reason to worry about it, but if it's screwing up your internal processes, you need to find a way to resolve it.
Q: Will it help if your fans campaign to get you on Daw Books?
A: Thank you, but that's not necessary.
Q: Scott Adams (of "Dilbert" fame) recently claimed on his blog that everything successful can be summed up in one sentence (http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/quality_follows_popularity/) - what would your sentence be for 'Doctrines'?
A: I find that exercise soul-destroying in the extreme. I'm sure it's true, but I don't want to do it. (Dude, I hate trying to write synopses. As
elisem told me coffeeem once said, "If I could say it in fewer words, I would have!")Q: What do you think makes it hard for you to get published? Your books are so well written and thought out, I just can't fathom why books like the black magician trilogy (and i love trudi canavan - but it's not quite your calibre *at all*) find success and yours doesn't? I guess thats why i blame the publishers...
A: Objectively speaking, I am one of the minuscule fraction of writers trying to get published who has actually succeeded. So the fact that I have hit a pothole that the state of Illinois would envy is, well, par for the course. Any creative endeavor is a fucking awful way to make a living, if you'll pardon the vulgarity, and especially in the current zombie apocalypse--editors are getting laid off, publishers are wearing sackcloth and ashes, the big box bookstores are running mad in the streets--I'm far from the only one trying to bail out my rowboat with a rusty coffee can.
Also, quality of writing has nothing to do with popularity.
Q: Corambis is portrayed as a sober, industrious place, fantastic with technology but less aware of other aspects of life, particularly the spiritual/imaginative. To what extent (if any) is Corambis an image of (images of) the American North, and in apposition to that, would you consider any aspects of Mélusine/Marathat reflective of the American South?
A: I would agree that the Corambins have a lot in common with Yankees. *g* That said, I don't think the American South, ante- or postbellum, has any greater claim to spiritual/imaginative wisdom than any other part of the United States, and if I located an allegory of the South anywhere in these books, it would be Caloxa and the Mulkist wizards: a largely agrarian society with some valuable traditions which has become corrupted by the practices of its ruling minority. Certainly, one of the models for the Insurgence is the American Civil War. One of the other models is the English Civil War.
Also, I would point out that Corambin spiritual life is flourishing; it's just that the magicians are rationalist technocrats.
[Ask your question(s) here.]
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 06:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 07:46 pm (UTC)So thanks.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 08:01 pm (UTC)Seeker is common enough as a Thing Characters Do In Fantasy that I wouldn't worry about it (the Seeker in Quidditch is another example)--although by the same token, it is fairly common, which is a good reason to take a long hard look at whether it's the right name.
I can't speak for Bear, of course, but certainly, if I were the author, I wouldn't assume anything but coincidence was behind it.
And congratulations on your impending publication!
no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 06:14 am (UTC)The name is fairly appropriate in this case, I suppose. My Seeker is a man who searches for knowledge in ancient texts and ruins, who can't sit still, no matter what the reasons are to stay home. Since the universes are quite different, Blood and Iron being in the Promethean age, whereas mine is a rather primitive fantasy magocracy, and the characters too, I guess Miss Bear won't mind much.
This being my first publication, I get a little insecure. But I'm sure it'll be fine.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 12:28 am (UTC)Zaf
no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 01:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 11:24 am (UTC)And was that a reference to Edgar Allen Poe somewhere in the book?!
no subject
Date: 2009-04-10 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 02:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 03:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 01:03 pm (UTC)Three questions:
1) What was the most difficult writing problem you faced with Corambis?
2) I really enjoyed the way that you articulated class issues in Melusine and The Virtu, but I was surprised by the way you handled them in The Mirador. Specifically, in the first two books we learn from Mildmay about how often the decisions of the Mirador's inhabitants have caused pain, fear, and death for the denizens of the lower city. But Mildmay seems disinclined in The Mirador to connect these injustices with their authors. It's not that I'd expect him to stand up and accuse the Lord Protector before Court and Curia, but I had thought he'd at least be angrier in his own head with the representatives of the ruling class he'd met. Why did you go in this direction?
SPOILER QUESTION:
3) Why did Felix not evince more concern about leaving the Clock of Eclipses running?
Thanks so much, and I'll continue to praise and buy your books, no matter which publisher you're with.