In third person omniscent, when I'm writing from the POV of a character who is not familiar with the given names of the other characters (for example a prostitute or street urchin), am I still able to use the proper names for these characters that the omniscent narrator would use, or has the charactor got the microphone and naming should be descriptive? Example from a prostitute's POV: Should it be: While the farm boy and his father were distracted, Mary found herself stuck with the boy’s uncle the sailor. He took her by the arm and pulled her aside. “Listen sweetie-pants, Jackie is a nice kid, but he’s a little, well, naïve about things, you know?” Or should it be: While the Jackie and John were distracted, Mary found herself stuck with Jack. He took her by the arm and pulled her aside. “Listen sweetie-pants, Jackie is a nice kid, but he’s a little, well, naïve about things, you know?” Thanks for your help on this one! -Claire
I think that if the character has enough lines, he should be introduced. If he doesn't warrant an introduction, then it's fine to refer to him in descriptions. Even when a character is major and has a known name, sometimes referring to a descriptive word instead of the name can add variety.
if the narrator knows their names, then mixing these two examples would work best. "The boy's uncle the sailor" is clumsy, but "Jack" isn't. If you've already established his name once, then just keep using it if this is how you'd describe him each time. It;s all about what sounds best at any given moment.
Mixing is what my gut was telling me. Thanks very much for confirming that my hunch was correct. I'm much more comfortable with that than having to rigidly adhere to the character's "voice". Thanks!
