Using the same name more than once?
So in my story, theres a character (name's Tris) in love with a girl, but she died. Her name was Lais.
Later when he's older, he saves a little girl who looks the same as the girl who dies. He adopts her and re-names her Lais, after the girl who died.
Is this a little messed up? There's more,
In between these two situations (the two Lais's) Tris is acquainted with another girl, he talks to her about the first Lais, and realises that this girl is in love with her, and is jealous of Lais (she's unaware that she is dead).
He runs away from her, but she finds him, and starts going by the name Lace - similar to Lais, this girl is a bit crazy.
The way the story is written, Lace meets the second Lais a few times while chasing Tris, then readers learn about the first Lais.
Basically the two Lais's and the Lace are all in the story at the same time, is this too confusing?
It's actually a comic, so they would all be shown, and they would look different.
Also the value of the name Lais is an integral part of the story but is it just too much?
The existence of the first Lais isn't revealed until near the end, so I've realised that by the time this happens readers should be used to the Lais that was introduced first. The three of them are only in the story at the same for a short while, and any confusion should hopefully be brief, and helped by the visuals :)
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/24379. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
It makes a huge difference that it's a comic. Seeing the visual cue of how the character is drawn will go 90% of the way towards dispelling any confusion, particularly if we only see child Lais and adult Lace.
It is possible to have a written text with similar or identical names and have it be a plot point, like V.C. Andrews's My Sweet Audrina, but you have to be very careful in pulling it off.
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