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

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Would it be cheating to change the main character's "name" partway through the story?

Use the main character's own viewpoint as a guide. They will have a reaction to the name, and to being given the new name. They will make meaning of it. They will attach some significance to it. T...

posted 6y ago by Dale Hartley Emery‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:52:09Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33061
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Dale Hartley Emery‭ · 2019-12-08T07:52:09Z (almost 5 years ago)
Use the main character's own viewpoint as a guide. They will have a reaction to the name, and to _being given_ the new name. They will make meaning of it. They will attach some significance to it.

They will have a reaction to the third person continuing to call them by their old name, and to the third person's transition to the new name.

And these reactions will change over time.

In the main character's viewpoint, attend to these reactions. They are gold for characterizing the main character and their relationships with the other characters. They will help keep the reader involved, and will help the reader track the transition.

Let the reader experience the meaning and significance of the name through the character's own evolving reaction to it.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-02-05T19:43:38Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 5