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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4154
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4154
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In a variation of "Keep it consistent," you may change the reference to the character from last name to first if:

- The character is not the main character, and the main character's perception of this character changes. For example, your main character is a college student and the professor refers to all the students by last name. So she knows all her classmates as Smith, Jones, Johnson, etc. As you are writing about Jane meeting "Smith," you should refer to him as "Smith." Once Jane gets to be friends with him, you can change the references to "David," because _her_ perspective on him has changed. (David Eddings was very subtle about this in the Belgariad; he referred to Belgarath as "Old Wolf" or "Mister Wolf" for at least a book or so until Garion learns that Belgarath is his ultimate grandfather, at which point the narration switches over to "Belgarath.")
- The character thinks of _himself_ differently in different situations. At work, he thinks of himself as "Doctor Smith." At home, he thinks of himself as "Scott." (You still have to be consistent within a scene, however, _unless_ something home-related happens at work and he would think of himself more in home-terms than work-terms.)

Original score: 4