Hello there!
I have always been a bit bummed because I love the worldbuilding that goes into high fantasy and science fiction. It offers so much escapism and immersion. But I struggle so much keeping up with names. ASoIaF, Dune, LotR, all of them have been so hard for me to read that I’ve eventually abandoned them partway through. Movie adaptations are different because even if I have difficulty remembering the character’s name, I can remember their face. So when they show up on screen I can remember their storyline and follow along, and that’s how I know that I love this sort of storytelling. It just feels like I have this obstacle that makes it very difficult to digest the written forms of the works.
Does anybody else struggle with this? If you do, have you found any “method” that helps? It’s to the point where I’m considering taking notes while reading LotR just because I love the movie series so much. It feels wrong that I’ve been unable to read the book.
Thanks for reading my blabbering, hope you all have a great day!
TL;DR — How can I keep up with reading 30 different storylines at once with characters named things like Allogwïnn?
by DirkTurpentine
3 Comments
Drizzt Do’urden used to drive me mental. Even my inner voice having to say it in my head when I was reading
As you mentioned, taking notes can be helpful. Maybe something as simple as “<name>: the person who is doing <thing>” could help you keep track of who everyone is.
Yes, this messes me up. Even worse is when they have *similar* names: Sarumon and Sauron. What the Fuck, JRRT!
I can’t bring myself to take notes. I will occasionally try a mnemonic. And reading online (eg Kindle)means I can search back and refresh myself on who this is.