Reem Gaafar's Blog: Life From Reem's Perspective - Posts Tagged "writing"
What's in a name?
Writing in English about people who are not English can be confusing, particularly when it comes to names. I was recently asked by a friend and reader why I had 2 Fatimas in A Mouth Full of Salt - cousins who had the same name. I wasn't really sure to be honest, but I think I chose the second Fatima because I was tired of thinking of names. Also, Fatima is a very common name and its normal to have several of them in the same family.
But one thing I learned from A Mouth Full of Salt - especially after listening to the audiobook - is that names are extremely tricky, particularly names that are foreign to the reader/listener. And when I think about it, I often get lost as a reader trying to remember who this character is and how they're related to that other character when the name is foreign to me. I actually ended up changing the names of the characters in my second novel so they were simpler, distinct, and would be easy to read.
I find that this is one of many challenges we face as writers of English material who are telling stories about our own countries and contexts which are far removed from the English-speaking world. Names of people and places, names of food and household items, proverbs and sayings, all end up sounding as meaningless gibberish to the reader who is already finding it 'difficult to relate' to what they're reading. And while its nice to have the reader make an effort to understand and emphathise with the story, I do feel that we don't need to make it that more difficult by our choice of names for our characters.
The difficulty would then be in choosing what to compromise to gain your reader while remaining authentic to yourself and your story.
But one thing I learned from A Mouth Full of Salt - especially after listening to the audiobook - is that names are extremely tricky, particularly names that are foreign to the reader/listener. And when I think about it, I often get lost as a reader trying to remember who this character is and how they're related to that other character when the name is foreign to me. I actually ended up changing the names of the characters in my second novel so they were simpler, distinct, and would be easy to read.
I find that this is one of many challenges we face as writers of English material who are telling stories about our own countries and contexts which are far removed from the English-speaking world. Names of people and places, names of food and household items, proverbs and sayings, all end up sounding as meaningless gibberish to the reader who is already finding it 'difficult to relate' to what they're reading. And while its nice to have the reader make an effort to understand and emphathise with the story, I do feel that we don't need to make it that more difficult by our choice of names for our characters.
The difficulty would then be in choosing what to compromise to gain your reader while remaining authentic to yourself and your story.
