Why it must come first

Fixing a mispronounced name after the fact means re-recording every line that contains it, matching the original room and performance, and re-editing every scene it appears in. On a fantasy novel with an invented cast that is not a correction; it is a second production.

This is also the most common complaint left on fantasy and science-fiction audiobooks. Readers who have carried a name in their head for years hear the error immediately, and it costs the recording their trust in the first chapter.

How to write one that works

Respell phonetically in plain letters, not in linguistic notation: 'Kaelen — KAY-len', not a symbol set the narrator must decode. Capitalise the stressed syllable. Give the character or place beside it so the narrator knows what they are naming.

Include anything that could go two ways: real place names, surnames, herbs, weapons, songs, invented units of time. If you have ever heard two people say it differently, it belongs on the list.

Where a name has a meaning or an origin, say so in a line. A narrator who understands why a name sounds foreign will carry it consistently through nine hours instead of drifting.

Record yourself saying the difficult ones aloud and send the file with the list. Thirty seconds of your own voice settles what a paragraph of description cannot.

How this house handles it

The Pronunciation Roll is free and open to anyone: build the list, mark the stresses, and carry it away as your own document whether you ever commission a build here or not. When work is commissioned, the roll is agreed before casting and locked before the first line is recorded — every voice in a multi-cast build reads from the same roll, so two characters never say the same name two ways.

Asked and answered

How many names should be on the list?

Every invented one, without exception, plus anything real that could be said two ways. A fantasy novel commonly runs to sixty or more entries.

Should I use phonetic symbols?

No. Plain respelling with the stressed syllable capitalised is what a working narrator reads fastest and misreads least.

What if I discover an error after delivery?

It means re-recording and re-editing every line containing that name. That is exactly why the roll is locked before recording, not after.