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Additions to Librarian Manual
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Character name disambiguation
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Kara
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Mar 25, 2010 07:44PM
As requested, something like this should go under the "Characters" section of the Librarian Manual:
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That works for me, although I'd say make an effort to check for last names before using that convention.
If you really want to identify a character then maybe the author could be included. This might allow characters to be searched for if you only know the author or title.And could a series field be added to books, then books and characters could be linked together. Hey, if you could add a series field to books then the books and characters would use the SAME entry automatically. I know, lots of work.
Banjomike wrote: "If you really want to identify a character then maybe the author could be included. This might allow characters to be searched for if you only know the author or title.And could a series field b..."
The problem with adding the author is that sometimes a series is written by different authors (example: Buffy).
Banjomike wrote: "If you really want to identify a character then maybe the author could be included. This might allow characters to be searched for if you only know the author or title."It's a good thought, but sometimes you have a series of books with different authors for some books, for example: novels based on TV franchises, or graphic novels.
The best solution would be, as you say, a better way of associating books with series. This feature is on the List, so we're just waiting on the Powers That Be.
True. You also get characters that appear in more than one series by the SAME author. One I am thinking of is the Robot series by Asimov. Now they have retconned it into the Foundation series there are overlaps ie: R. Daneel Olivaw is in both. Easiest fix, ignore it.
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rivka wrote: "Remember, this should only be used for characters who must be disambig'd. Any that are unique should not have anything added."To emphasize this, perhaps:
In some cases, a character will have only one name, like "Angel," or a very common name, like "John Smith." Make every attempt to distinguish the character with a unique name; the character's common name can be placed in the "Alias" field. If this is not possible, then add a short version of the book or series title in parentheses to distinguish between characters with the same name.
rivka wrote: "Remember, this should only be used for characters who must be disambig'd. Any that are unique should not have anything added."That WON'T work. If another author uses a name that was previously unique do we expect the new enterer to go to the other/older entries and add their series or titles to them? I can't see that happening reliably, it will likely not even be spotted. If a character isn't entered with a series or book when it is created it will just cause probs down the line. I think so, especially since 99% of librarian work is fixing 'what should have been done in the first place' but was not (except for quizzes when it is fixing what should NOT have been done, ever).
Banjomike wrote: "If another author uses a name that was previously unique do we expect the new enterer to go to the other/older entries and add their series or titles to them?"Why would this be necessary? In such a case, the original character would simply have its name, unannotated, and future characters with the same name could be disambiguated by series.
Oh dear.I had added the full name of a character to try and disambiguate it from several unrelated book characters. When that didn't work, it was suggested I delete the name and re-add it. Tried that, and now all the other books have that same full name. (Possibly they got when I changed it the first time, I hadn't checked.) Any way to fix this mess? If I change the names in the other books, will all of them change again?
The book is Indiscreet by Carolyn Jewel, the character is Edward.
Banjomike wrote: "That WON'T work. If another author uses a name that was previously unique do we expect the new enterer to go to the other/older entries and add their series or titles to them? I can't see that happening reliably, it will likely not even be spotted." Perhaps something like this then: (I'm borrowing the first part of this of this from rivka)
In some cases, a character will have only one name, like "Angel," or a very common name, like "John Smith." Make every attempt to distinguish the character with a unique name; the character's common name can be placed in the "Alias" field. If this is not possible, then add a short version of the book or series title in parentheses to distinguish between characters with the same name.
When adding a new character, check the list of characters to make sure that a character with that name is not already in the database. If no character with that name already exists, simply add the character. If a character with that name DOES exist, add the character with the series name in parentheses. If a character appears in more than one series by the same author, use the name of the first published series to contain the character.
P.S. I am terrible with HTML stuff... How do you center text like rivka and Ben did? Thanks! :)
Also, I have been trying to edit the characters for the Dragons in Our Midst series, and have come across another problem: what to do if a character's real name is not the name for which people remember them? I have been using their birth name, as that seems to me to be the most correct, but I'm not sure if this is right.And sometimes the names change during a series. For example, in Dragons in Our Midst, there is a dragon named Hartanna who changes her name to Irene when she becomes human. In book 2 she becomes a dragon again and takes her dragon name, but later (possibly book 7 or 8, I forget) she becomes human again and stays that way for the rest of the series. So... I guess my question is, should we use her birth name, Hartanna, as the real name, or Irene, the name she chooses to keep, as her real name? I'm sure this applies to other books as well, but that's the only example I could think of at the moment.
Michael wrote: "P.S. I am terrible with HTML stuff... How do you center text like rivka and Ben did? Thanks! :)"Use the <blockquote> tag.
Michael wrote: "I guess my question is, should we use her birth name, Hartanna, as the real name, or Irene, the name she chooses to keep, as her real name?"
That's certainly up for debate, but my opinion would be to use her original name, "Hartanna," as the real name, and list "Irene" as an alias. People who haven't read the first two books will be confused when a character named "Irene" is listed and no such character appears in the book (indeed, a well-meaning librarian may remove the character). Conversely, people who have read subsequent books in the series will understand that Hartanna has become human and changed her name to Irene.
Ok, that's what I was thinking... But then there is another character in book 3 named Jasmine, and we later find out that that's not her real name, and that she is really the sister of one of the other characters. Her real name is used for the rest of the series. If I put her real name as a character in the book, people who haven't read the other books will be confused, but I wouldn't want to use "Jasmine" in the later books because that's just a fake name. Also, I wouldn't want to spoil the character's real identity for anyone who clicked the real name out of curiousity. *sighs* I love it when authors create complex plots like that, but it does make things difficult when you are trying to write about them.Oh, and thanks for the help with the HTML!
Michael wrote: "Ok, that's what I was thinking... But then there is another character in book 3 named Jasmine, and we later find out that that's not her real name, and that she is really the sister of one of the ..."Sounds like a complicated series. My view, if a person or dragon or alien changes their name then use the earliest name. Anything else runs the risk of being a spoiler. If they KEEP the new name then use that in later books.
Begin rant:
Lots of Larry Niven books come with glossaries of names which in some editions tell you far, far, far too much and are in fact comprehensive and completely stupid and annoying spoilers (Ringworld's Children is my "favourite"). Especially when the glossary is right at the front of the book as the list of characters is on our book pages.
End rant:
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James "Jimbo" Smith
to indicate both birth name and nickname.
Do we have a final version of the text for the manual?
How about this?In some cases, a character will have only one name, like "Angel," or a very common name, like "John Smith." Make every attempt to distinguish the character with a unique name; the character's common name can be placed in the "Alias" field. If this is not possible, then add a short version of the book or series title in parentheses to distinguish between characters with the same name.
When adding a new character, check the list of characters to make sure that a character with that name is not already in the database. If no character with that name already exists, simply add the character. If a character with that name DOES exist, add the character with the series name in parentheses. If a character appears in more than one series by the same author, use the name of the first published series to contain the character.
Also, make sure that listing a character's name in the "characters" field will not spoil the plot for those who haven't yet read the book. If the use of a character's true name will spoil the plot, use their alias instead, and place the real name in the alias field. Make sure to indicate that the real name might be a spoiler by adding *spoiler* in front of the character's real name.
Mod
Ok, thanks. And one more question about characters- is it ok to list a character that never actually appears in a book, but plays an important role? For example, if a character dies before a book starts and doesn't appear in flashbacks, but plays a crucial role in the story? (The example I am thinking of is Nest Freemark in Armageddon's children). Anyway, I didn't see anything about it in the librarian manual and I thought while we were on the subject of characters we might add a sentence about this. Thanks!
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