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Q&A Referring to different instances of the same character in time travel

I think it may be solved using the same term consistently. From what you wrote: "the man", "his older counterpart", "his future self", "his older self", "Older Adrien", and "his other self". ...

posted 5y ago by Liquid‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T11:56:52Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46532
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 · 2019-12-08T12:25:10Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46532
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T12:25:10Z (about 5 years ago)
I think it may be solved using the same term consistently.

From what you wrote:

> "the man", "his older counterpart", "his future self", "his older self", "Older Adrien", and "his other self".

Those are a lot of synonyms. While they are correct and they do convey the idea, a reader is going to be pulled out if you change "the name" of a character every third sentence.

Establish a single nick to distinguish between the two; if you can keep it short, the better (Older Adrien or Adult Adrien could be good and straightforward). You could also use "old adrien", maybe playing on the fact that from a teenager‘s point of view, being 20 years old seems like "a big deal".

Once you choose a "name" for your character, readers will become accostumed to it, even if it gets repeated a lot. Those repetitions tend to become invisible to the readers, since our brains "filter" them out.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-07-10T11:54:05Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 27