Young Writers Society

In my story I want my main character to have a unique name. It's prounciation is simple and it has few sylables but I am concerned about how it is read and then prounced.

"Cae" (only part of the name)

would you prounce it See, Sai(sigh) Say, Saa, Kay, Kai, Kee, Kah??? Or any other?

Way it is supposed to be pronouced


If you prounced it differntly in your head is their any advice in writing on how to introduce a scene in where the pronouciation is explained or should I just have it written up in the front like a guide before the story.

I pronounced it "Kay," and my second instinct would be "Say." Depending on what the rest of the name was, that might change.

Most guides go in the back of the book (though on YWS you could put it at the beginning), but if you really want to get it into the book...

One way is to have your character's name written down on a piece of paper, and have another character read it out loud, and then have that character be corrected. "No, 'c' as in....."

That way's a bit cheating, but if it's important it's just a small cheat.

In conclusion, though, I'd say not to worry about how readers pronounce names. You'll have very little control over that in the end, so in some ways it's not worthy fretting over. If it is important, you could always try spelling it in a way that leaves little room for 'error'. (It's as much the reader's story as it is yours, you see.)

ur really awsome at giving advice rachael so thanks again.

Anyone else? the more opinions the better....

It's pretty impossible to only get a syllable right without the name's full context. Names are so interconnected that I'd only get the pronunciation right after a few rereads. If that.

My general advice is never, ever worry about pronunciation. People will pronounce things however they want, and no matter what sort of cheats you do, they'll still read the names however they want. (I read "tortall" as "tortle", only to have my friend correct me that it was "TOR-tallll". I still read it as "tortle" because that's how I see it.)

i was hoping that first part could be a nickname though, as it would be confusing to see that. I know what u mean when people will always pronounced it as they have initially but my characters name is very special to me, it would be weird too me if its said as something else