What’s in a name?

[Timesup]

Does anyone else who looks for stories on Literotica wish you could remove people’s names from text? It’s frustrating getting into a hot, raunchy story only to see a character who has the same first or last name as a real person in my life that turns my hard-on from a smile into a frown pronto. “She” or “He” is fine but not realistic as writers are entitled to use whatever name for a character they like. And would be limiting as far as content. Please, fellow readers, help a pervert out.

 

[StillStunned]

Copy and paste the story into a word processor, replace all the instances of the name.

 

[TheRedLantern]

You should assume "write your own stories" is always the best answer you're going to get when posting a question like this on the Author Hangout forum.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Can't say I've ever had that problem, but just doing a little mental "find and replace" would work for me.

 

[Timesup]

You should assume "write your own stories" is always the best answer you're going to get when posting a question like this on the Author Hangout forum.

Would there be a better place to post? I can’t be only one thinking this.

 

[TheLobster]

I deferred naming the two main characters of my Summer Lovin story, and close to the end I realized I could just not name them at all. I went for it and it turned out quite well, but it really was a bit of a special case.

You need names to distinguish people, especially in English. Pronouns can only get you so far.

 

[Timesup]

Would there be a better place to post? I can’t be only one thinking this.

Sorry. I meant the only one

 

[sirhugs]

what do you think might help?

{moving from Story Ideas to the AH where it belongs}

You should assume "write your own stories" is always the best answer you're going to get when posting a question like this on the Author Hangout forum.

They posted initially in Story Ideas, where I am moderator. I moved it here because it is not really a Story Idea. Please be kind to the newbie.

 

[TheRedLantern]

@Timesup @sirhugs Sorry if my post came off sounding confrontational. It wasn't meant that way. It's early where I am and maybe I am not yet caffeinated enough to interact in civilized society at this hour. Apologies all around.

"Write your own stories" is my actual answer to the question. I have the same problem where my engine goes from "red hot" to "I need to go check on my plants' mental health" when I see a name that i associate with someone very unsexy to me. I approached that by writing my own stories.

The "find and replace" strategy wouldn't work for me because I empathize with the writer, and I know that the writer's intent was to use a specific name and my mind can't help but respect the author's vision.

 

[sirhugs]

@Timesup @sirhugs Sorry if my post came off sounding confrontational. It wasn't meant that way. It's early where I am and maybe I am not yet caffeinated enough to interact in civilized society at this hour. Apologies all around.

"Write your own stories" is my actual answer to the question. I have the same problem where my engine goes from "red hot" to "I need to go check on my plants' mental health" when I see a name that i associate with someone very unsexy to me. I approached that by writing my own stories.

The "find and replace" strategy wouldn't work for me because I empathize with the writer, and I know that the writer's intent was to use a specific name and my mind can't help but respect the author's vision.

sometimes, some of us select specific names randomly. If it smells like that, feel free to substitute names that work better for you.

Don't know about anybody else, but I often struggle with the "select a meaningful name" approach.

 

[alohadave]

If you search for any name you can think of, there is be hundreds of people that come up with that name. I've had a saved google search for my name, and have gotten many instances around the world. I've come across my own name in two porn stories, which is an odd experience, but ultimately is just coincidence.

Names aren't unique and don't mean anything.

 

[TheLobster]

Y’all should just get born outside the Anglosphere and not have an English name. Worked for me!

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Does anyone else who looks for stories on Literotica wish you could remove people’s names from text? It’s frustrating getting into a hot, raunchy story only to see a character who has the same first or last name as a real person in my life that turns my hard-on from a smile into a frown pronto. “She” or “He” is fine but not realistic as writers are entitled to use whatever name for a character they like. And would be limiting as far as content. Please, fellow readers, help a pervert out.

Here you go

 

[Bramblethorn]

If it's enough of an issue, you might be able to use a browser extension to automatically change selected names. This could be a good place to start: https://github.com/pgerhardt/millennials-to-snake-people

 

[ElectricBlue]

Names aren't unique and don't mean anything.

Names are key to my stories, an intrinsic part of the character. Definitely not a case of any old name will do.

 

[Jorunn]

I often will write a story using names of people I know, or people I associate with the character I am writing. It gives me clarity so I do not have to remember the assigned names. I have even used ABC. Then once the story is done, I will change every ABC to the name I want in the story.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Does anyone else who looks for stories on Literotica wish you could remove people’s names from text? It’s frustrating getting into a hot, raunchy story only to see a character who has the same first or last name as a real person in my life that turns my hard-on from a smile into a frown pronto. “She” or “He” is fine but not realistic as writers are entitled to use whatever name for a character they like. And would be limiting as far as content. Please, fellow readers, help a pervert out.

I try to avoid writing any characters with names in my immediate family. It would be very hard to do the same for your immediate family.

 

[StillStunned]

I try to avoid writing any characters with names in my immediate family.

Me too. Except when I'm writing Incest.

 

[Bazzle]

Does anyone else who looks for stories on Literotica wish you could remove people’s names from text? It’s frustrating getting into a hot, raunchy story only to see a character who has the same first or last name as a real person in my life that turns my hard-on from a smile into a frown pronto. “She” or “He” is fine but not realistic as writers are entitled to use whatever name for a character they like. And would be limiting as far as content. Please, fellow readers, help a pervert out.

I couldn't help myself putting Jeremy Hunt into a story a few years ago...because his surname often got misspoken.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Not just stories. There's a Tom Petty song I can't listen to because it reminds me of someone form so long ago.

 

[OddLove]

Its happened to me a few times. I usually just stop reading the story.

 

[Erozetta]

Every time I stumble across a story that uses my real name (and many of you have done so), I crinkle my nose and back out. Middle name, too.

I get sick trying to read stories that include the names Dan, Jeff, or Jason. Besides my own, they are the only names I cannot read without it negatively coloring my view of the story overall.

Other names I struggle with when encountering due to friend/family ties, but can still mostly read

Oh, and at least one writer on Lit has managed to get the names of me, my husband, my sister, and three of my male friends into a single story involving swingers.

 

[StillStunned]

I get sick trying to read stories that include the names Dan, Jeff, or Jason. Besides my own, they are the only names I cannot read without it negatively coloring my view of the story overall.

Ignore anything I post about my new story tomorrow. It has a Danny in it. Or at least references to Danny the ex of one of the characters.

 

[Erozetta]

Ignore anything I post about my new story tomorrow. It has a Danny in it. Or at least references to Danny the ex of one of the characters.

Danny doesn't bother me, it's very specifically Dan.

 

[iwatchus]

My SO had real issues with my original series because of the name of one of the characters. We know someone who shares a name with one of the two FMC. The real world person is the SIL of the real world person that inspired one of the two MMC, turning the story into incest in SO's mind.