How do you usually write when trying to avoid a character's name in 3rd person narration? Okay, to explain, I don't mean for the POV character when they're alone (which is easy, as most people don't think of themselves as a name, and given that there isn't another character, pronouns never get confusing). I'm talking about: The POV character when there IS another character involved (they forgot their own name but haven't realized it yet and I want it to be revealed at the end), and When the POV character definitely SHOULD know another character's name, but there's no canon name for them and you don't wanna touch... that whole can of worms (there's just so many insults I can throw his way, so many times I can say 'his brother', and using pronouns can get confusing at times (although I do use the POV character's name to clear things up)) I mostly write in third person limited, which makes it harder to pull off. I could switch to omniscient, but I don't find any joy in that, personally. Of course, this would be better discussed with a work of mine directly, but I'd rather hear people's opinions on this topic in general. If it's even a good idea or how I could develop the concept differently. Or maybe direct me to stories that have done what I'm describing successfully! Any conversation, I feel, is going to be helpful in some way.
An unusually tall man in a black suit entered the room. Blah blah, stuff happeneing, the tall man stepped up to the counter and asked for a rutabaga pie. Etc.
I'm def asking for rutabaga pie at the next restaurant I go to. I'll let you know the funny shit my shocked wife replies with when I do so.
I think the challenge here is how long could a character (let's say with amnesia) talk to another person who clearly knows them without either of them bringing up the first person's name. I think for the non-POV's character it is actually pretty easy, when I think about conversations I have with friends and family, I rarely use their names when talking to them. I could (and have) been with a person for hours and not used their proper name one time. The hard part would be how long could the POV character to not ask this person their name. Not impossible, just would take work. What you would have to do is establish a state of mind where this person is either not concerned about not knowing their own name, or a reason they are reluctant to reveal they don't know their own name. I think you just have to settle on an epithet, until you are ready to reveal the proper name. "The Man in Black" "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" "Scarface" Some authors write whole novels of epithet characters for stylistic purposes. For the character mentioned above, I would go with something simple like "The Brother"
I'm a bit confused. Are you saying that the POV character has amnesia, but doesn't realize it? I don't see a way to make the reader buy into that. If he has amnesia, he's going to have forgotten more than just his own name and the name of his brother, or whoever. Even if he doesn't say his brother's name in dialogue, he's going to think it. If you want to go the amnesia angle, I'd suggest making him realize it from the start and having him, or someone else, pick a name for him. Using alternates like "the tall man" or whatever is going to distance the reader from the character. In 3rd limited, we are inside this character's head. Even if he doesn't know his own name, he isn't going to think of himself that way. Giving him a temporary name until he discovers his real name will be far easier to write and far less annoying to read. Though, if he is interacting with his brother, he can just ask his brother what his name is.
Oh okay I see what the confusion is! I meant both options to be DIFFERENT characters! One who doesn't remember anything, ANOTHER from a DIFFERENT story whose brother I don't want to use the name of! I probably should rephrase it some other way to clear any further confusion!
@CarimesTreehouse What are the rest of us—chopped liver? Four other people have made responses to your thread, trying to help you with your question, and you just ignored us all? Even if you don't necessarily like our answers, the normal response is to thank each one who responds, simply because they took the time to write something up. And maybe click the like button or something. Maybe even go a little above the bare minimum and respond to what we said with some words of your own. Lately there's been so much of this. What keeps a message board alive is conversation, not people making little individual posts and then refusing to engage with anyone who answers.
What! Oh god I am so sorry. I never meant to appear that way. Life got the better of me these past few days and I just managed to respond to something when I could. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make everyone feel underappreciated. It's my first time ever in a forum and now I'm scared. I'm sorry. I'm still getting the hang of it. I'm slow.
Avoid using pronouns at all where possible. There are plenty of ways to do that, such as using them only as often as is necessary to avoid confusion. In dialogue parts, tags are only really necessary once every perhaps 3-4 lines. When people have conversations, they rarely say each other's names if there's only two of them. It's not necessary, THEY both know who they are.
Ok, you're fine now. That was a good recovery. Trust me, we all understand getting caught up in life. And I think if someone hasn't been on a message board before and is used to social media it's very different there, it isn't like a conversation. I don't really do twitter or any other social media, so I don't know, but I think it's fine to just make a single post there and nobody expects a response. Sorry, I get frustrated because this stuff happens a lot in here. And, to be honest, peopole often don't come back and respond on a thread until they get a little bit of a chewing-out like I just gave you. That'll usually bring 'em back if they're going to come back.
I'm the worst at this. I've been writing my book for 8 years now (mhm) and there have been times when I've wanted to throw my laptop into the lake. Fro real, if it weren't for Xoic, set to stun, homer, luanne, and a bunch of other people, I'd be wearing a ratty blue robe and I'd be the President of the local bat farm club. @Carimes - we love when people post writing questions. I do it all the time and I've gotten tremendous help. We've had some great discussions. The best thing you can do is use this forum to advance and improve. Nothing would make people happier here! Thanks and God bless, Td.
Ngl, I completely understand that feeling. So much so that I had to laugh at the mental image of throwing your laptop into a lake. There's so many WIPs in my docs that I've gotten stuck in and never touched again. Even more so once I'm finally rewriting them and I hit a wall.
Oh, that is such a relief to hear... I was biting my nails hoping I hadn't made a complete... something of myself. I now understand why my lack of response prompted a call to action, but no worries! I prob should've waited until I had a more free schedule before starting a thread haha, but I got too excited.
