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 What are the advantages and disadvantages to leaving the narrator unnamed?

Are you working with first person narration? Is the narrator's identity important? Is he the MC, or someone on the sidelines? Does anyone ever address the narrator in dialogue in a situation where ...

posted 6y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:19Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33391
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 · 2019-12-08T07:59:29Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33391
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T07:59:29Z (almost 5 years ago)
Are you working with first person narration? Is the narrator's identity important? Is he the MC, or someone on the sidelines? Does anyone ever address the narrator in dialogue in a situation where it would make sense to use his name?

Here's some examples I can think of:

- Roger Zelazny's "Amber Chronicles": the narrator is the MC. His identity is crucial to the plot, is in fact a plot-driving element. His name is significant. 
- Conan Doyle's "Sherlock Holmes": the narrator is Dr. Watson, a side character. Nonetheless, Holmes's interaction with Watson is important. It wouldn't really work with Watson remaining unnamed.
- H.G. Wells's "War of the Worlds": the narrator is nameless. His identity is not really important to the story, or to interactions he is having. Indeed, his lack of name serves to make him even more of the everyman.

So really, it depends on the story you want to tell, and how you want to tell it.

One thing I will say: a name grounds a character. It makes him an individual, with a past, connection to other people, etc. Without a name, the character is an amorphous someone from a crowd, who will disappear back into the crowd once the story is over. At least, that's how I usually feel about it as a reader. So it's up to you: what do you want your narrator to be?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-02-18T17:28:28Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 2