SBD: keyboard restrictions

[jmc_bks]

It's Monday, so it must be Smart Bitches Day. Today's bitch: keyboard restrictions. I think the "y" key needs to be removed from the keyboards of all romance writers (well, maybe not all, but a bunch of them). At the very least, the use should be restricted when it comes to the names of the characters. Maybe some enterprising person could write a macro preventing their use? The conventional romance wisdom seems to be that if an "i" or "e" has been used traditionally, a "y" can used instead. I know the author is trying to be innovative and make her characters distinctive, but it screams trying too hard to me.

If the book is an historical and the character is Welsh, a plethora of y's and dd's is only to be expected. But so many of the other names have no excuse. Ravyn. Lyon. Lync. Bryanna. Mykayla. Carolyna. And don't get me started about JR Ward's characters.

I want to read a red hot romance between Anne and Bob, or Juan and Li, or Owen and Marg. Or any other real name, please.

You may be wondering what brought this on: I picked up a copy of Stray while at the store and skimmed the first few pages to see if I needed to buy a copy. I didn't see the heroine's name on the backblurb: Faythe. First time I read it (in the dialogue), I had to double check -- was that a name or merely the speaker lisping "face"? Name. Ugh. Back on the shelf.

Comments

[eackerman.livejournal.com]

Can I get an "Amen"? I'm behind you 100% on this. It's even worse in the historicals I read and it's reaching the point where I want to hurl--both the book and my lunch.

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

Too funny! And Too True!

It may be that you didn't miss much by not reading Stray, since Jane panned it, which means I probably will too if I'm masochistic enough to pick it up. Though this may mean you'd have liked it if she wasn't called Faythe given our recent run of bad reccs from moi. LOL.

But you forgot the infamous H, JM Charr. *ggg*

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think in the Ward-world, it would be Kharrh ;)

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

You sure it's not Kharrrrrrrgh? *ggg*

[(Anonymous)]

hope you're talking about a feline shapeshifter's name because that's the sound a kitty makes when tossing a hairball.

Wouldn't it make sense they'd give their kids names they can call 'em by in any form?

kate r

[miladyinsanity.livejournal.com]

ROFL!!!

I wouldn't know what sound a kitty makes when it coughs up a hairball. Sorry for maligning you, JM. I know you're not a cat.

[(Anonymous)]

My favorite rant about names was in a PG Wodehouse when Bertie falls in love with a woman named Gwladys and his aunt Dahlia starts in on avoiding females with oddly spelled names.

kate r

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

Now, Gwladys wouldn't bother me, being Welsh I think. It's all of the errant y's without reason that drive me crazy. Like all of the extra apostrophes in sf.

From Carrie http://lovelysalome.blogspot.com

[(Anonymous)]

I think I posted about names a couple of months ago, about how historically accurate names rarely make it into books. Roger. Harold. These are not what we would consider sexy names. I don't mind using more updated names, but you're right -- the funky ass spellings annoy me. And the apostrophes in sci-fi, yes. Jar'hiur. Wir'nthur. C'oesse. Etc. Nuff already!

[msmoby.livejournal.com]

Hee! Names drive me nuts, too. Back in the 80s in romance, the trend was giving heroines masculine names. Now it's odd spellings, particularly Y's. I can't wait to see what's next.

There's a book I read a while back (I can't remember it, but I know a few people who could--I ranted about it a LOT) that had a heroine whose name was pronounce completely differently from how it was spelled. And it wasn't a Celtic name, either. Maybe that sort of thing will be the next trend.

--Darla
http://nichtszusagen.blogspot.com