Young Writers Society

So I've been writing about the same three characters for nine years (I know, I'm mildly crazy). One of my coworkers is editing it for me and she keeps telling me that two of my characters names are way too similar, to the point that she continuously confuses them. Her solution is to change one of their names.

Now, while she is doing an amazing job editing, she doesn't have any experience in this department and she also doesn't read the genre that my book is in. My apologizes for all the background information but I'm just wondering if I should listen to her advice and change a name or if I should keep them the same.

I just want opinions on what you guys think I should do! So please vote below

The two names are: Brooke and Bridget

The only similarity is the "Br" sound. Other than that, they're fine. They don't even rhyme in any way, shape, or form. Having "Bridget and Brooke this, Bridget and Brooke that" might get tedious after a while but it's nothing major, so I say no, leave as is.

I agree with Iggy that they aren't too similar and that they're fine as is. However, what may be causing this confusion is how the two characters are introduced and/or established. Perhaps if their character traits are too similar is would be easier to confuse the two or if they were introduced in the same proximity, then it'd be harder to differentiate, but as names I say you keep them. It's how you know them, afterall.

I might be in the minority here, but I agree with your co-worker.

Brooke and Bridget may not sound similar, but they definitely start with the same letters and look similar in writing. I tend to be a fast reader, so I could easily see myself scanning the names and then getting confused. That may not be true for every reader, though.

However, you may be able to get away with the similar-sounding names by distinguishing them in other ways, like traits or speech habits.

I agree they are similar.

I agree with your coworker! I have this rule when I write to never give lead characters names with the same first letter. It is easy to get them mixed up, especially if you aren't reading out loud and speed reading.

However given you have been writing about these characters for nine years I think for you to change one of the names will be like a mother deciding to rename her nine year old. Hard. Very hard.

Ultimately you have to be the one to choose. You are attached to your characters and by asocialtion their names. But don't ever forget that it's the character that makes the name, not the other way around. I will give an example, I used to hate the name Harry then I made friends with a guy by said name. The better I got to know this Harry the less I hated the name. Now I like the name Harry all because I actually got to know an actual Harry who had a good sense of humor. The name doesn't matter. The character does. I imagine both Bridget and Brooke are awesome in their own right, don't rob your reader of the privilege to get to know them idivigually. If you really want to keep the B names, then call one of them by her middle name instead.

And that is my two cents worth.

DG

The problem here is that perhaps they both share the same character personality traits of the same. The name isn't the problem, by far these names are good. Nicknames could make the difference though, but all in all it's probably from the characters that you developed. They must have the same thing from both of them they seem like one. It confuses editors a lot. They need variety. You can change if you want as it'd be quicker, but if it were me I'd analyze the personality traits to see if the confusion comes up.

I'm not sure if this has been brought up but it doesn't seem like it, so here we go.

I don't think it's a problem, in fact, I think it's good to have a few characters with similar names- because that's life. Nevermind sharing the same first letters in a name with someone, how many times have you come across someone with the same name as you? Or known someone with the same name as a friend? It's not exactly unheard of.

If you have every character always having completely different and unique names, it's not very realistic. Yes, it's not good to have too similar of names, but reusing one letter for another character is not impractical, in my opinion.

I agree with your co-worker. Do these characters appear in the story often together? Or are they completely separate from each other? This could make it more or less confusing, respectively. If they hardly ever appear in scenes together, don't worry about it. But if they are almost always together, then you might want to consider changing it. I try to give all my characters a letter that their name starts with, so I have a variety of different kinds of names.

The big question is, do you think you should change it? We can't tell you what to do, and it is your story after all.