I was talking to a friend one day and she told me something interesting, “I can’t read books if the character has my name.” And that got me thinking, how do others feel?
I know people who can’t read books if a character like the main love interest has the same name of someone they know like a sibling or a parent (or maybe a mortal enemy, who am I to judge ?), but I want to know how others feel.
Have you ever gotten the ick or had to pause when reading a book because you or someone you know may share the same name? Were you able to get over the cringe or did you take a knee and DNF the book? I don’t know why I’m so fascinated by this, but please share your experiences!
And if you haven’t experienced this because you’re a lucky ducky, tell me, how would you feel about a book where the main character or someone pertinent to the story has the same name as you?
I will DEVOUR books if the MC has my name…especially if it’s a romance book and the MC looks like me, too… But if she’s white then i’ll DNF xD
I have yet to read a book that has my name for the MC though lol
And yeah, I will never read a book with a love interest named Xavier, that’s my brother’s name. You know those spicy romance books by Anna Huang and she’s doing a series for all the seven deadly sins? Her new book this year for Sloth has my brother’s name and I’M SO MAD BECAUSE IT’S THE ONE I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO READ.
Would you read the book though? Or would get that cringe feeling? I have a unisex name, so I sometimes feel weird when I read the girl version, but I can read the boy version no problem. I blame it on the different spellings lol.
I’m shocked because your name is like… pretty typical XD. But I guess when we look at the trends of character names your name may be deemed too average… Some authors come up with really… creative spellings lol.
Don’t mind me, just going to Google… I am intrigued! Xavier is a typical werewolf name, so you just eliminated a genre from your reading list lol.
Waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy too many fictional characters have my name or a variation of it. For the most part, it doesn’t bother me anymore. But if it’s a hardcore romance I nope outta there
Off track for a bit, I wonder @DollyTH, how many actors and actresses play fictional characters who SHARE the same name as them and how they may feel about it?
Chances are that they don’t mind at all, unless it might actually be beneath that actor.
I’ve been a sage in a fantasy, the other woman (cougar) in a romance (before I was the right age to be the cougar), I’m in The Empirium (never read it), I’m apparently in House Manderly (again, never read this), girlfriend of a dead man, a tomboy who wants to join the circus and string men along.
I mean, I don’t give a damn about what the names are, never had. If the story aint one I want to read, it won’t entice me to pick it up, and if it’s something I would read, I’ll read it anyway.
I always find that interesting when I learn things like that. I think I’d just get confused on set about if someone is really talking to me or the character lol.
That’s the confusing part for some I think, maybe not even trying to self-insert but thinking like that’s me because that’s my name. I think it’s more like instinct, haha.
Yeah, I watched a crime series where an actor plays a character who shares the same name as him, though that character wasn’t the main character and just a character for that episode.
I find it actually funny and rather sad in a way.
Like “why am I playing me, but with a totally different personality, though?” LOL!
For a lot of people, I bet, but I’m clearly the disassociative type. I’ve struggled to put me in the MC’s roles after I got out of fairly early childhood and the further I get from that, the harder it is to do. I wish I was more in.
Which is hilarious when I’m writing a character that is a lot like me (but worse) because I’ll read their stuff and not see me, but let me have a “them moment” irl, and their sass comes out my mouth. Weirdest thing ever.
?), but I want to know how others feel.
