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Q&A Referring to people in a book

Refer to people the way you think of them. If you think of him as "Alan," refer to him as Alan. If you think of your Japanese friend Goto Sumiko (where Goto is her last name) as "Goto," then use th...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:17Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/8368
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 · 2019-12-08T02:58:40Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/8368
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T02:58:40Z (almost 5 years ago)
Refer to people the way you think of them. If you think of him as "Alan," refer to him as Alan. If you think of your Japanese friend Goto Sumiko (where Goto is her last name) as "Goto," then use that.

Alternately, if Goto Sumiko goes by "Goto" but you always called her "Sumi Quatro" because you both love the singer Suzy Quatro, then by all means refer to her as Sumi Quatro in the text.

Just be consistent and clear, and identify everyone on first reference so the reader doesn't get lost.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2013-07-10T00:19:31Z (over 11 years ago)
Original score: 0