Two Questions

[osprey_archer]

Two questions.

1. If I say a character has "skin like fallen leaves," what does that say to you?

2. Are the names Ammeri and Arenyay likely to get confused (given that they both start with A)? And how would you pronounce them?

Comments

[entwashian.livejournal.com]

1. eczema :X
2. I don't think they are confusing. Probably like Emory and Erin(Yay!).

[athenais.livejournal.com]

1. I would think, "What, literally? This must be a dryad. Otherwise, it makes no sense at all."

2. No, I wouldn't mix them up. AH-mehr-ee and Ah-REN-yay.

[inner-wings.livejournal.com]

For the first, I would think of fragile, brittle skin, maybe of a very old person. For the second, I don't think i'd mix them up.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

1. If the person was clearly meant to be an ordinary human, I'd assume it was a metaphor for thin, dry, brittle skin, as of someone who is very old or very ill. If there was a chance it was a fantastic character, I'd think colorful/multicolored (red, yellow, orange).

2. I wouldn't get them confused, and I'd pronounce them a-MER-ee (to rhyme with "the pear fee") and a-REN-yay (to rhyme with "the glen pay").

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Hee. Your poetical brain is an inspiration to us all.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Now I am concerned for the hypothetical dryad. A dryad with skin like fallen leaves must be dying.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I'd pronounce those names Ah MER ee and Ah REN yay unless the story told me otherwise--and I wouldn't get them confused.

"Skin like fallen leaves" would signal to me dry, brittle skin--unless it was a magical character, in which case you might be telling me it had rustling scales or something like that.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

I would pronounce it AH muh ree (just to be different), and Uh REN yay, and no confusion.

And echoing the dryness and possibly wrinkles that everyone else gets in "skin like fallen leaves." I like asakiyume's notion of the scales.

[bogwitch64.livejournal.com]

1: Dry and brittle

2. I'd pronounce them AH-mer-ee, and AH-ren-nay. Will they get confusing--yes. Not for all, but those aren't the ones you have to worry about. You have to concern yourself with those for whom it will be confusing, and thus throw out of the story.

IMO--make Arenay Erenay. You get the same sounding name without being visually confusing.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

"The pear fee" has morphed in my head to "a pear tree" and now the Twelve Days of Christmas is on perpetual loop. This is especially amusing because I get the middle verses garbled.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I have this image now of a little dragon with a ruff of rustling leaves.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately there is also an Eris.

But she's Arenyay's sister and the name is much shorter, so perhaps that won't be as much of a problem.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Hee. Always the contrarian, eh?

[ladyherenya]

1. "like fallen leaves" on its own makes me think of something dead - picturesquely dead but dead nonetheless. So I think it would depend on the context - if the character in question was clearly alive, I would be more likely to think "dying", or even more towards "dry and cracked".

2. I think I would only get the names confused if there few facts to distinguish the characters from each other. Not if one or both were a main character. I would like to say, "No, of course not," but I remember reading a chapter of something (The Iliad, I think) out of context for uni, and it was full of characters whose names all started with A. And we all got very confused.

The first pronunciation which comes to mind is be Ay-merry (as in "a merry christmas) and Ahr-REN-yay.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I once read a book where the villain was Harlan and the love interest Harrison. I can't imagine what the author was thinking; there were a couple of times even she wrote the wrong one!

[longlegs21.livejournal.com]

"Skin like fallen leaves" said "?" to me at first; then I started to get the impression of the dry, cracked, old, brown skin that others have gotten.

I think whether Ammeri and Arenyay get confused might depend on how individual the two characters are and how many characters, total, are in your story. I would pronounce them A-mer-EE and Erin-YAY. With Ammeri, I can't decide whether to pronounce the first vowel like the "a" in "cat" or the "a" in "father."

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Do you think it would help if I changed it to Ammeri and Aren?

[longlegs21.livejournal.com]

Yes. It looks like several of your commenters, including me, heard the two names in the exact same rhythm (not sure if that's the right word, but you take my meaning, right?), and shortening the second name fixes that.

[ladyherenya]

I don't remember having trouble with Harlen versus Harrison, simply because their characters were so different from each other - and because they were both fairly significant characters, too. Hadn't thought about them having similar-ish names until now.
But I guess it shows that this sort of thing (like so much else with writing) can be so subjective!

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Oh, have you read Alyzon Whitestarr? The name issue aside, I loved it!

[ladyherenya]

I loved it too. Have you read anything else by Isobelle Carmody?

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Basically everything! The Obernewtyn Chronicles, the Legendsong, the Billy Thunder books...I love her books, but it drives me CRAZY that she never finishes her series! I mean, I like knowing that there will be more. But I want some closure!

Although I hear The Sending is finally supposed to come out in February. I am skeptical, but hope springs eternal.

[ladyherenya]

Oh, her seeming inability to finish anything is definitely frustrating! I think that was part of what I liked about Alyzon Whitestarr - that it was complete and stood on its own. I'm kind of sad she hasn't finished Billy Thunder yet, because I while don't imagine I'll be too old for it when she does, they seemed more children's book-ish and it's a different experience reading those as an adult. The others I know I can wait for.

The latest I heard was a definite-sounding September for The Sending, and that the final volume would then be published at a later date...