One of my characters is called Ellie. Her full name is Elliot Graham but is known as Ellie by all except one character called Emma. When Emma talks to Ellie she refer to her by her full name, Elliot. What I want to know (and I think I know the answer but wanted to check) is when I'm in Emma's head should I use Elliot in tags (i.e Elliot said) or is it OK to use Ellie. I suspect it should be Elliot becuase it's Emma's POV, it just sounds odd when reading it back. Thanks
It depends on what Emma calls Elliot in her head. When she's thinking, does she refer to her as "Elliot" or "Ellie"? Whichever one that is is the one that should be used whenever Emma isn't talking out loud.
When I first read this through I thought you said the MC's name is Elliot and she gets called Ellie by everyone except one person calls her Emma. Oops. Anyways, if Emma calls Elliot "Elliot" in dialogue, she would more than likely call her "Elliot" in her head as well. I suppose it could go the other way, but that would be confusing to readers more than likely.
That's what I thought. It just seems odd saying Elliot did this, and Elliot did that when she's otherwise referred to as Ellie. I suppose I could make Emma refer to her as Ellie but to use Ellie's proper name is in-line with Emma's character. Thanks for confirming
I had to heavily edit my last book, because of this exact reason, that wasn't fun. Good to get it right from the beginning . Good luck Rgds
