posted
I didn't want to hijack the "Choosing Names" post...
How do you handle characters who have changed their names? For example, I'm working on a story that begins with the MC, his fiance, and three friends. This goes for three chapters.
The names I use (and would like to use throughout) are the new identies they've assumed. Late in Chapter 3 (or early Chap 4), a woman discovers their real identities.
Since I didn't plan that out very well, I'm now stuck on how to address the characters from the point where the woman discovers their true identity. I'm thinking that they just continue using their assumed names and she is the only one to address them by their real ones. Will that confuse the hell out of the readers?
posted
I'd say that if the characters think of themselves by their original names, refer to them outside dialog by those names ("Charles said...Sarah coughed...Barney sneezed." Within dialog, they'll have to refer to each other by their assumed names.
If, though, they start to think of themselves as those people whose identities and names they have assumed, you might reconsider.
(I remember being confused by Heinlein's story, "Gulf," where the main character burned through three or four identities over the course of the story and it was difficult to remember that they were all one person---leastwise when encountering the story for the first time. Took me till adulthood to sort it all out.)
posted
This happened rather a lot in LORD OF THE RINGS, at least for Strider/Aragorn son of Arathorn/Isildir's heir/the Ranger/Elessar Telcontar (and that didn't include the names he used before the story started).
The way Tolkien did it was to introduce the character under one name, then reveal another name and use both of them for a while, then move to the second name and stay with it for a while before introducing yet another name. Some of the names were only used when there was a character around who knew Aragorn by that name, and then when that character was gone, Aragorn was Aragorn again.
If you think it might get to be too confusing to the readers, you could always have one of the other characters say "Now, who is Elessar again?" (or whatever) and have yet another character tell him/her.
[This message has been edited by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (edited January 13, 2008).]
posted
This might be slightly off topic, but I really love how Tolkien did this. Strider is first that sketchy character we meet, and with each name we learn more and more about him, but he continues to be all the things epitomized by the new name or title we come to know him by. He grows larger than life, but always remains Aragorn.
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posted
Once, I put a book down because the MC changed his name in the middle. He just suddenly said, "Henceforth, I shall be known as ..." and that was it. In his thoughts and to everyone else, he had a new name. It really bothered me, and it happened in a novel that was already bothering me, anyway.
On the other hand, Strider/Aragorn didn't bother me, so I think there is a good way to handle it, and a bad way.
In the first case, it didn't have much of a reason for the change, except that we were supposed to be surprised to learn the character was actually King Arthur (I think that was where the author was going.) In the case of Strider, it seemed clear that he was merely going by that name and that he had a real name. Tolkien had good reasons for the change, so it didn't intrude.
posted
Yeah, and I would argue that actually makes sense since he's undergone such a powerful change, and he's hardly the man (literally) that he used to be. I don't remember if there was any explanation for why he decides on that name, though (I admit I snoozed through a lot of that movie).
Anyway, I think the trick to making name changes work is to really keep it in character. Each name might have a specific meaning for the character, or at least bring up certain memories, perhaps bad ones. So avoid arbitrary name changes, and make sure each one as a certain consequence.
[This message has been edited by annepin (edited January 14, 2008).]
posted
Right. With Vader there were reasons. I don't remember if that was before or after the transformation (snoozed as well), though. Plus, the Emporer (or soon-to-be Emporer) was trying to bury Anakin in the past, make a whole new being of Vader. Like many things in writing, it can be done well or badly.
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posted
I have two MCs who name change before the present time line starts.
The first one you witness the name change in the prologue and he ("Karsh") flat out says that he's now using the other name ("Mordent") because "death rules here" and he's the heir to the kingdom. It helps (I hope) that he's 15 years old at the time too and being that melodramatic works for his situation.
The other MC starts in Chapter 1 and she thinks of herself by her new name (Falcon) and most of the people in the story only know her by the new name. But she's been the other name (Princess Kauril) for a while and the middle of her first chapter is getting rid of everything that ties her to the other existance. So I haven't withheld and haven't plunged into 80 pages of backhistory to show her name change (although I did in the first draft )
She burns through a few names in the second book because she's in hiding. Everyone that has met only that identity calls her the new (3rd name) but she still thinks of herself as the second one (Falcon).
I think Robert and Kathleen have it though. How you deal with it depends on the POV. If no one knows the other identity, than they will only refer to the new one. The trick is keeping it clear.
As long as there is a reason for the name change and it is clear, it should work with your story.
posted
Thanks for all the good advice. I think I figured it out - and this ties into my other post "The Good Idea Cutoff Point" because I now have some additional scenes based on the way the name change is revealed.
Since my characters are in seclusion at the beginning, they refer to each other by their real names. When they get into a shootout with cops, the news broadcasts their assumed names. It added some mystery to the story also because a woman who sees them on the news knows the real identity of one and thus knows they changed their identities. Makes it a little harder for her to figure out who the others are.
Anyway, thanks again for the comments - they steered me in the right direction.
[This message has been edited by KPKilburn (edited January 17, 2008).]
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