posted
My protagonist ends up adopting a pseudonym along with two other characters. They wish to protect themselves from their enemies.
What I'm a little lost on is whether or not I should refer to them by their false names only when they speak the names themselves (or think about them?) and simply use their real names for everything else. Or should I continue to refer to them under their false names and leave their real names behind, so to speak? The change does not last for very long.
I do not wish to create a confusing situation, and introducing the same characters with different names the very next chapter might do just that. What is the best policy?
posted
I'm inclined to think that using their real names outside of dialog would be the way to go.
"My name is Paul," Saul said.
Something like that. Inside, they could refer to each other by their names---maybe one of them will stutter or hesitate or otherwise trip over the name.
posted
I think the real question here, is how do the characters see themselves.
Take for instance the movie, A History of Violence. The lead role, Vigo Mortensen has changed his Identity so many years ago, he never thinks of himself as the same guy he once was. In his mind he's become someone else, though the memories of the other are still preasent.
If your characters start precieving of themselves as the new names they have, then yes, you change the name, but if they only change their name temporarily, then you should stick with their original names and use the fake names only in conversation.
Another Great Example is in Robert Jordan's series, "Wheel of Time", in one of the books, either 8, 9, or 10, a character in the book is given a new name, and she accepts it immediately as her lot, and take that identity on as her own. In following books, RJ refers to her by her new name, though he does mention other people around her still sometimes think of her as her old name was.
It's a complex series, but well worth the read.
Anyway, I hope the point I was trying to make is across. But then again, that's only my opinion.
posted
I'd say go with how your character thinks of himself or herself. In my opinion, there isn't any other option.
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posted
I'm reminded of a Batman Beyond episode where someone stuck a speaker in Bruce Wayne's room and spoke to him, trying to make him think he's crazy. But he knew he wasn't crazy because the voice called him Bruce and he knew that his real name was Batman.
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posted
Well, if your character is as schizoid as Batman, he might start to think of himself under the phony name.
That's it...when saying "So-and-so said," you should use the name he thinks of himself under. At least when you're writing from within the character's head and from his point-of-view.
Point-of-view would be important. Say your POV character is introduced to somebody with one name, then finds out later he has another (or several). (I'm thinking of the many different names for the character "Lazaraus Long" in Heinlein's "Methuselah's Children" and "Time Enough For Love.") Possibly the POV character will go on thinking of this person by that name, even though he learns better...
posted
I guess I might as well chime in, to go along with "how the character thinks of herself" and what BetterThanYouKnew and Robert Norwall was saying:
Characters also adopt a lot of nicknames for themselves and might even identify with their nicknames more than they do with their real names. A great example I can think of is the Encyclopedia Brown series and of course Ender (Andrew) Wiggin.
The main character in the novella I'm writing now, Amelia, perfers to identify herself as Amy. She never thinks of herself as Amelia - she thinks it's too "stodgy" sounding and she resents it when people call her by her full name. It might also be fun to look up the meanings of names, too - "Amelia" means "hard working woman" or "fertile woman" while "Amy" means "beloved."
And of course you can make it as complicated as you want it. For whatever reason Orson Scott Card violates his own tenants in "How to Write Sci-Fi and Fantasy" when he wrote the Homecoming series and the names get very complicated. Honsi calls her ex-husband Gallufix "Gab" while his half-brother Elemak calls him the more affectionate "Gabya". The "short" form of "Luet" ends up being "Lutya" which is if anything longer. And of course, if you go this route it helps to do what OSC did and write a name guide chart at the beginning of each book
posted
I'll agree with using names for the characters that agree with how they think of themselves. That can still lead to multiple names.
In one series, I have a trio of witches. When in the context of witchcraft, they use their craft names and think of themselves by those names. People they only know in witchcraft context know them only by those names. The trio knows and thinks of most of the other witches by only their craft names.
I other context, they use their given names and think of themselves accordingly. I had to carefully, cleanly switch context and switch the name set at the same time. It wasn't always that easy. There were 'Huh?' questions from characters who know the witches in one context when they met in the other.
posted
Now that I think about I think they may need those names for a while longer. The enemies of my characters are hunting them, so they magically adopted disguises which shaved as much as 10 years off of their lives (desperate times, desperate measures). It doesn't help that their pseudonym selves make their own deadly enemies in time.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll just have to make a conscious effort of when the characters are 'speaking in public'. I'll use the 'he said, she said, etc' as reminders of their real names. And in private they'll probably feel comfortable enough to use their real names too.
posted
What did Card do with the nicknames in the Homecoming Series? I think in conversation tags they were always the full name.
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