Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A How firmly must I remain in my characters POV?

This is perfectly normal. It would be weird if the narrator used "Mama" in your first example. "Jane's mother" might be acceptable, but just using "Aliana" is perfectly fine and clear. About you...

posted 7y ago by Secespitus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T23:01:19Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/32455
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:39:41Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/32455
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T07:39:41Z (about 5 years ago)
This is perfectly normal.

It would be weird if the narrator used "Mama" in your first example. "Jane's mother" might be acceptable, but just using "Aliana" is perfectly fine and clear.

About your second example: the narrator can of course "look into the future" or just in the other room and thereby tell that it's not quite what the character thinks it is. There is no reason why he would have to stick to what the character smells.

I think your examples are fine and this style is acceptable. In fact, I don't really see why you would think it's wrong in the first place. Imagine your narrator as a character - maybe he is omniscient or looking at it as if it was a memory, but he is still a character and as such he should be able to distinctly name other characters by names he would find appropriate and comment on things as he sees fit. He has a personality of his own.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-01-10T17:45:14Z (almost 7 years ago)
Original score: 3