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I don't think strange names break immersion; I think names that cannot be sounded out (correctly or not) break immersion. "Hermione" can be sounded out. "J'xyx'brtl" is too hard to sound out, and ...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-19T22:13:39Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41760 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T10:45:06Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/41760 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
I don't think _strange_ names break immersion; I think names that cannot be _sounded out_ (correctly or not) break immersion. "Hermione" can be sounded out. "J'xyx'brtl" is too hard to sound out, and for me would be likely to break immersion every time I see it, because my reading system stumbles over it. But whether readers get "HER-My-Own" or "HER-Me-Un" or "Her-MY-Oh-Nee" doesn't make a difference, their eyes can glide over "Hermione" without a stumble. For "Jiolluav" I would probably read "JOLE-Uf", similar to "JO-seph". I wouldn't have a "Zh" sound. In my fiction, names are one, two or three syllables if common (like "Christina"), mostly two syllables. If they need to be longer, I may give them a nickname as well, for dialogue. Making reading difficult; by using hard to read names or foreign or alien words, by twisting grammar, are ways the text itself can break immersion. Making a reader read a passage more than once just to understand it is (IMO) bad writing.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-01-30T11:36:47Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 9