Do characters always need names?

"One of them will turn out to be an important character another dies, but I want his identity to be hidden for now."

This is interesting. What is your reason for hiding identities at the moment?

 

Is "eldest" obvious? If so, I might say, "The old man" to make it more visual.

Even though you're omniscient, is there a POV character in any given moment? I would choose whoever is the eyes for this scene and figure out what he would notice and how he would name them. Clothes and other visual attributes?

Knit Hat threw the kitten to Tweed Jacket and shouted, 'Run!' Old Guy, showing surprising speed, dashed between them, caught the kitten, and escaped down the alley, the yowls echoing as he ran.​

 

I was doing something slightly similar in my novel, Brothers. My main character and his brother are introduced in my Prologue, with names, etc—and the main story problem is exposed in that chapter. However, when the story resumes 6 years later, lots has changed. I wanted the reader to be slightly uncertain which of the two brothers from the Prologue is the featured POV character in the first couple of scenes, because fallout from the Prologue could have gone several different ways. Time has passed, names have changed, etc. So my main character in the opening few chapters was simply referred to as a 'young man', and that was the way it stayed for a long time. My main character had no name for a while.

However, recently, I've decided to revise that. Keeping the character's identity in doubt for the first few chapters was one of those ideas that seemed good at the time, but isn't really all that helpful. So now I make it clear in Chapter One (which follows the Prologue) which of the two 'brothers' is the main character we are following. I don't think it hurts the story at all.

Just one of those ideas for revision that can come to you, if you give your story enough time and space to cook.

In general, I like my characters to have names. Withholding names seems a bit gimmicky, unless it really adds to the story's atmosphere and meaning ...such as in The Road. However, too many names flung at the reader in too short a space of time is not a good idea either.

Not only will multiple names be unlikely to stick, but they will create confusion at exactly the moment when you should be setting up the story in a clear fashion. Placeholder names for minor characters, related to their professions, their looks, their relationships to other characters (sister, father, teacher, etc) can work well in opening situations. Try to introduce characters by name, if you can—but slowly, and not too many at a time.

 

Well basically without spoiling the plot the other 3 men are protecting someone very important.... He isn't the MC but links to the MC.

 

What a coincidence, none of my characters have the name Percy!

 

When they don't have names... ....

...you hold your chin in your hand.

'Oh fugit, they don't have names. What a world of confusion on my laptop.'

You go back, give everybody a name, and a different hair colour, and you carry on to draft 6. I think so, clarity is critical for reader pleasure. Remember, we're typing like slugs, these people possess hypersonic eye-sight. They draw conclusions and all sorts, it's very strange. They say ' this story's about man's struggle v society...'

You say, 'ya ya, of course, I know.'

 

I'm glad you made that decision, because now I can steal your idea. (I won't. You should definitely do something else with that though, it's a corker.)

I agree with other people who have pointed out that replacing a name with an identifier like "Mama", "the driver" is really just replacing one identifier with another, and usually in the third person I think this is what would happen if you tried not to use character names.

However there are many examples of having an unnamed MC in the first person that work really well, Ellison's Invisible Man springing to mind. Off the top of my head, you might do this to put some mystery into your MC, or to reflect his/her feeling of nothingness or alienation (as in the Ellison), or to hide a plot development in the case of a historical character. I'm sure there are lots of other good reasons to do this.

 

As I progress as a storyteller, I've been drifting away from the notion of mystery. I used to think that creating a mystery about a character or a situation was a great way to get people intrigued about the story. In fact, it has the opposite effect, I discovered, after getting LOTS of beta feedback on my first couple of drafts. Folks grow impatient. Who IS this guy? What's his 'deal?'

It's right up there with starting a story with "The tall man appeared in the doorway" or "The old woman stood at the edge of the cliff." Only to tell us the names of these people a few paragraphs later. The reader spends time outside the story, wondering who these people are. Have I missed something? What's the deal?

Unless keeping these names a secret from the reader is vital to my story—such as in The Invisible Man—I've decided not to create that kind of mystery in the first place. I am a big fan of orienting the reader, rather than confusing the reader. I would hope that the story itself would be enough to hold interest. Creating a false mystery to hook the reader just seems a bit gimmicky, now that I look back on what I was trying to do.

 

So... I can steal it?

Yeah I'm an unabashedly immature writer, because, as a writer, I am immature (i.e. new). Atm my stories tend toward the neat mystery-reveal-reaction type because that's what I seem to stick to word limits with, and it allows me to focus on other aspects of writing.

That said, I'm very interested in identity in literature so your idea appeals on those grounds too.

 

Oh, feel free! Take it. You might make a better job of it than I did.

 

I don't even see a reason for a name unless it is important to the story. Too often I've read something like "Bohan sat atop the destruction surveying the devastation." as an opening sentence. As if the name itself was the story.

 

I remember reading a story in which one of the main characters was identified only as "the waitress." It was told from the point of view of a patron of the diner, who was watching her as she dealt with some crisis or another. The whole point of the story is that the patron didn't know her name, just as you might not know the name of the waitress who serves you or the boy who delivers the pizza or the woman who sells flowers on the corner. Her anonymity brought out the relationship we have every day with people whose names we don't know.

 

I agree with others, who said that you can use their title. I use terms like 'innkeeper' and 'sailor', when they may appear in only one paragraph. If it is more than that I would probably give them a name that would help identify them later.

 

Well that won't happen, but thanks. I think I have an idea...

 

I forgot to mention the movie Once. You never learn the names of the main characters. Even in the credits and the script, they're referred to only as "Guy" and "Girl."