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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/9392
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I am in the midst of writing my second [NaNo](http://www.nanowrimo.org) novel, and I have encountered a problem I didn't anticipate. It is similar to this question, about [changing a character's name](https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/how-best-to-handle-revealing-a-main-characters-name-midway-through-a-long-story) in the middle of a story, but the situation in my story is different enough that I think it will need a different answer.

In the first part of the story, we meet the protagonist, Nicene. After a second part (which isn't written yet), she is discovered unconscious on the streets by Shadow. During this period, the story is from Shadow's point of view and she is 'the woman'. After she regains consciousness, she tells him that her name is Cherry, and so the narrative continues with her named as Cherry. The trouble is, I am sliding back into her point of view, but I haven't let the reader know that this woman is actually Nicene.

I don't really want it to be a surprise _to the reader_ when they find out who she is, so I have made several connections between the prior part and the current part, and Shadow has made it obvious that he doesn't believe that Cherry is her real name. I am on the verge of revealing her honorifics, which are important and should be a surprise, but might also further confuse the reader.

I am stuck on how to transition from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't know her real name ('Cherry') back to her ('Nicene'), because Nicene certainly doesn't think of herself as Cherry—that's just an alter ego—but the reader might not have realized who she really is.

Is there a good way of handling this?

Original score: 8