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Should I change her name?

edited May 2010 in - Writing Problems
I've hit a very slight snag when it comes to my main character. I am actually a teensy weensy bit mad at myself for not checking in the first place.

I named one of the characters in my book some time ago...but last week I decided it would be best if I brought her to the front and made her a, if not the, main character. She is the amateur sleuth of my tale [as there is a male police detective in there too].

However I have just discovered that another writer [more famous than I] has a saga which involves a female sleuth with the same first name - beginning practically in the same year! To try to rectify it I have pushed when my characters story is to about 5 years earlier than originally planned. As far as I can tell my character is based in a different country to the other one too.

Is this enough? Or should I put the date back a little further? I do have an alternative name for her [it was one of her middle names] which I like but I had my heart set on the other...plus it is part of her mother's name. I don't think there are any more major similarities...but then I haven't read the other writer's books...only her website.

'Oh poop!' said Chippy. Or words to that effect. ;)

Comments

  • I wouldn't worry about them sharing the same first name. The other things are different, and your writing style is different too.
  • go with what you want but be prepared to change it if the publishers decide it is too close. They do sometimes, they have to cover themselves.
  • How unusual is the name? If it's Sara or Anna, I wouldn't think there'd be a problem. But, if it's Clothilde, it might be better to change it.
  • edited May 2010
    Well from what I've read, it isn't like a really, really common name for the Victorian period but then again it isn't a really unusual name. It is kind of a middle of the road name...

    Her name is Amelia. The other option for her name if I really have to change it is Charlotte.

    a quick google search tells me that there appears to only be one other Victorian female sleuth of the name Amelia from recent times - the one I mentioned earlier.
  • Well you say she's named after her mother... but it's your book, you choose the name for the mother presumably... so why not change both?

    You could do it after the book is written so that you are writing about the same person in your mind. I think it would be unwise to have the same name as another protagonist in the same genre. A publisher might think, well if they are not careful to avoid similarity in that, what else is not original?
  • edited May 2010
    Her mum's name is Mary Amelia though - but Charlotte Amelia does sound as nice as Amelia Charlotte so...maybe her mum was inspired by the Bronte sisters when she gave birth - who knows? We shall have to wait and see!
  • edited May 2010
    I am currently cursing the other writer who got published way before me...but I won't name her...if any of you are fans of hers you've probably already worked out who she is.

    I'll have a tantrum!!! :)
  • I've done the same thing with entire plots Chippy. I've either put them to the side for a while or just been beaten to the punch by other books AND films!

    On the plus side it means our ideas are good because they're out there and people are enjoying them. Just not with our names on them :(
  • What a shame, Chippy. I'd be cheesed off too, but it might be better to change the name now while you can still write it in properly rather than waiting for a publisher to tell you it has to be altered after you've completed the whole thing. Perhaps go with the Bronte link - nice reference.
  • edited May 2010
    I am very very very slowly starting to see this turning in my favour...parts of the jigsaw that is my novel are slotting into place in slightly better ways than before.

    But I'm still a little on the p***ed off side of things about having to change the name. To the point that it has actually taken me two days to officially change it in my notes.

    But you never know one day my heroine could be really really famous and popular and I can go up to the author who beat me to it and I can say thanks! Is that a silver lining I see peeking through the clouds? Or is it just lightning? ;) :)
  • Amelia seems to be pretty popular at the moment, Chippy - the last three books I read all have characters called Amelia in them - Jodi Picoult's 'Handle With Care' - main child character is Amelia; Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels feature a police officer by the name of Amelia Sachs; and James Pattersons' 'Alex Cross's Trial' has the daughter of the main protagonist called Amelia.

    Must be one of those names that is coming back into fashionable favour.
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