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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/32389
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

This is probably a repeat of a previous question, but I have a slightly different problem when writing. I don't always want to refer to characters by their names (if I do, then I run into problems with people needing to remember a long list of characters and names), so I want to pick some other trait, say "the old" or the young (insert whatever), but it gets to be repetitive using those terms to describe them. At the same time I both like the repetition (to avoid moments of "who is this character?") but it can also be limiting too. Almost to the the point of people wondering if I need to brush up on my vocabulary skills.

My friend brought up the concern of it being too repetitive to keep using a limited few words to describe an unnamed character. (eventually his name does come to the story), but at the time of his first appearance he's in a flashback of another character who knows him well enough to not be using his name in a sentence.

Things I'm trying to avoid:

- Using the character's name in dialogue (it just doesn't feel natural in a one on one conversation.)

- Too much repetition. He's elderly, old, frail. He's the commander of my fictitious army. We got that, but to keep using the same choice of words to describe him, is that appropriate? Would it bore readers?

- Blurting out his name before it fits the context. Most likely "sir" is the word you'll hear my character refer to him as, unless it is an informal meeting. Even if that happens, it feels more natural to not be calling him out by name.

- My main fear is if I deviate too much it will be "who is this character?" or where did "his friend" come from when trying to come up with alternative titles to break up the repetition.

One choice is to just "tell" rather than show and have the narrator just give the names of the characters as soon as the flashback appears, but I feel that kind of loses something.

Another thing to consider the scene involving this unnamed character is written in 3rd person narration. The narrator writes in 1st person with scenes that involve him, but when he's seeing scenes involving other characters, the style switches to 3rd person.

* * *

That said, what are your thoughts? How do you handle characters without names, or those with names the story isn't ready to reveal yet? Do you stick to a few labels for each character and keep referring to them by those titles, or come up with as many as possible?

Original score: 3