When do you reveal a character's name? (+poll)

[Kura]

I cases where you don't want to reveal a character's name right away find something else to refer to them by, a tone they speak in, a smell they have. Blah blah blah.

But if it's a name that's no reason to hide from the readers and is stiffening your writing in the attempt to try and avoid it until it's naturally brought up, then you're going to want to bring it up. It's awkward but necessary for the story telling process, the best you can do as a writer is 'make it work'

Keep in mind this is something you STILL have to do in comics, but in a slightly different manner. You have to find ways to CONTINUE bringing character names up, or else the readers will not remember their names, this vs. a novel where it can appear in prose between dialog and doesn't NEED to be said by the other characters. Again, this can sometimes lead to some awkward lines because in reality, people rarely repeat or mention each others names when talking to one another in conversation, but is is necessary to do multiple times throughout a comic.

[joannekwan]

For me it depends on the role of the character in the story and how I want to build them up.

protagonist: immediately
secondary character, with mystery: let it come up naturally in the story, using epithets until then.
secondary character, persistent/protag already knows them: introduce them as a narrator or think of a natural way to come up in the story. Whichever opportunity comes first.

e.g. Shanna walked down the sidewalk and saw a familiar red mop of hair across the street. "Farley!" she called to her friend. Farley whipped his head around to meet her gaze.

or e.g. Shanna walked down the sidewalk and saw a familiar red mop of hair across the street. It was her friend, Farley.

Either of the above works fine in my book.

[RiidDisBuk1]

Sometimes both. I just depends on how you prefer their introduction.

[Zaboem]

I answered "Wait" because that is usually how it works out. If I think that a I need to differentiate between similar characters, I will drop that name asap. -- and if I think the character name is funny.

[Jenny-Toons]

P.S. This is a mainly an issue when writing in 3rd person, obviously

I'm curious as to which 3rd person is it.

If it's 3rd person objective, where it's the perspective of an outsider, you could reveal the name via dialogue. And that really depends on the relationships the MC has. Though, I would figure that at some point, the MC would say their sister's name, for example.

If it's 3rd person limited, you have the perspectives of a few characters, both through their dialogue and their personal thoughts. So you could still introduce the MC's sister via narrative. Like, the MC is contemplating something, and then their notice their sister (insert name) walking in.

If it's 3rd person omniscient, you are basically god for this story. You know everything about every important character -- their thoughts, their dialogue, their history, what they will or won't do, what they dill encounter, what they don't know yet but they will know. At that point, you can just pop in the sister's name easily since you might also dive into what she's saving.

But generally, for me, I just introduce people's name via the narrative. If they're important to the plot and revealing their name isn't important, just say who they are when they come on screen. I feel someone would only keep a name hidden because it's revealing something important to the plot. But if it's just a regular character, revealing their name 4 chapters after the fact and not having a big impact feels....awkward.

[nostalgicroxas]

I do a bit of both, or all... Haha. Because I write in omni 3rd person I have a fair amount of leeway on how to introduce my characters. The grand duke, his wife and son, and king - all of them are public figures and are well-known so their names being known by the MCs is a no brainer. I think GD's wife was introduced with him as something along the lines of her entering with him, and her name given upon a formal address to her. Such as "the beautiful lady standing next to him was his new wife" and then her coming over to Will to complain at him, her name was dropped something like "Yes, Lady Mia." I'd have to actually look through the files to see.. I wonder how I introduced Hydros. I vaguely recall Matéas was introduced after almost ate Will. The more recent new characters, Arluin and Noire, were introduced through context for Arluin and through introduction for Noire (servant and visiting prince).
Sometimes I'll just wait until the character makes themselves known enough that they need a name, as a minor character. Vladimir, Tino and Sara are all "wait until they needed names" cases, where Irene got a name almost immediately because she is more .... present in Will's interactions.
I also won't make characters obvious sometimes. Will interacts with a goddess that tries to kill him early on, and he never learns her name until after he's been saved and is in a safe environment more or less. Or a later introduction of Hydros, I played around with her appearance so she didn't appear as her youthful self (lady of time kind of), and she has to basically tell the character flat out who she is.

I think it'd be fun to play around with a character who's not named for a while but that makes declaring who they are to the reader very difficult. A version of Crow appears, who isn't him, but is, and that version appears with another version of Crow in the same scene and they interact with each other - so I had to switch up their speech patterns, and had to start nicknaming one so it'd be clear for the reader. It was kind of nuts.

[Toastbuster]

For me it depends on the character. I introduced my main right off the bat, and though my novel is written in 3rd person, its still technically from her POV. I generally prefer the ‘wait for a name drop’ method, but if the character is someone my main knew at the start of the story I may give them a pass. When it comes to introducing completely new characters, I always wait for a name drop. I personally think it flows better that way.

[ar-ninetysix]

Names can definitely be tricky if your character's alone and isn't the type of person to think like "Come on, Jeff! Pull it together!" but that said, I do prefer holding off on it. I can't stress how forced it feels for me to be told a character's name as soon as they pop up, so like.. I won't tolerate that behavior from myself lol

[Maps]

For my novel, the narrator introduces my protagonist in the prologue at the start. The the other names are revealed through the protag meeting them or hearsay.
In my other story, the names come through dialogue since most of the characters already know each other (Aka a character saying something like “Why would you do that, Lily?”).
I don’t do the whole “Hi, I’m so-and-so and this is a story about my crazy life!” kinda thing.

[yansusu]

It depends on which character and which situation it is Sometimes I just have the narrator give the name, sometimes it'll come up in conversation and sometimes other characters will have talked about that specific character while the person wasn't around. And then it'd be obvious from the description later on who that character is.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Keep in mind this is something you STILL have to do in comics, but in a slightly different manner. You have to find ways to CONTINUE bringing character names up, or else the readers will not remember their names, this vs. a novel where it can appear in prose between dialog and doesn't NEED to be said by the other characters.

Wow. I...never, ever....even remotely try to do that, and it did not occur to me at all that it was important. o_o

I feel...like I should be ashamed of myself...

_{Although tbh I'm not and I'm certainly not gonna rewrite all my comic scripts for that purpose 6_6}

Again, this can sometimes lead to some awkward lines because in reality, people rarely repeat or mention each others names when talking to one another in conversation, but is is necessary to do multiple times throughout a comic.

Yeah, see, that's my problem. I flat-out refuse to make a character say something that unnatural solely for the reader's benefit. I just can't do it. I'll cringe myself into a pretzel during edits...

Maybe I shouldn't be asking for advice if I'm this stubborn...but hey, there could be a compromise out there that I haven't thought of. Like I always say, you never know what you don't know until someone tells you.

[Sophtopus]

I prefer to have at least one person in the story to mention the name as the first formal introduction. The narration will not use the name until it's officially spoken.

[therealbereth]

I'm not sure how to choose in this poll because it always depends on the kind of narrator you're using, as Jenny-Toons already said, and the kind of story, as well.

When characters meet for the first time, though, why wouldn't they introduce themselves to each other? It would feel oddly unnatural if people just go about an adventure or something without even asking one another how they want to be called. So when characters meet for the first time, I usually just have them mention their names and that's it. In-character, of course.

In my dark fantasy (not online here yet), the protag is super distant, but meets a young girl just bubbling with energy – naturally, she reaches out to him, with name and all, while he........ doesn't. xD But the readers know his name, since it's third person limited anyway.

Maybe think about what would be natural in real interactions, and then apply that to your writing? When do people usually learn the names of others? Are they brought up by friends? Do they have to ask? Is the new person someone who's widely known by a lot of people so the name (and their status, e.g. a politician or something like that) is just something your protag knows and drops in mid-thought?

There are so many ways to show characters' names to the reader that I can't really think of all of them right now, but try not to artificially hold them back just because you don't think people asking each other's names feels natural. It is very much natural in real interactions, so I don't see a reason to avoid it in fiction. You don't even have to do it in dialog-form! Just mention somewhere that they introduced each other if it's not that important and then start using their names.

It's always more awkward to read about "the blue-eyed man" or "the blonde girl" for more than one time. Like... I know what they look like the first time these things are mentioned, no need to awkwardly spread it out. xD

[DokiDokiTsuna]

There are so many ways to show characters' names to the reader that I can't really think of all of them right now, but try not to artificially hold them back just because you don't think people asking each other's names feels natural. It is very much natural in real interactions, so I don't see a reason to avoid it in fiction.

That's the whole reason I have this problem: It doesn't feel natural to me. I didn't just arbitrarily decide that self-introductions are weird, they're literally not a part of my mindset. I never introduce myself to other people unless they ask for my name (or the situation is formal enough); if you're supposed to 'feel' the correct moment to do that, I've never felt it.

That's part of the reason I started this topic; I thought that maybe hearing what other people's thought processes are might help me to 'learn the rhythm', so to speak. It's hard to write behavior that doesn't mesh with your own instinctual reactions; there's always a learning curve.

[therealbereth]

I see. I didn't take that into account. Hmm.

In cases like this, I always say "focus on what's natural to your characters". If I've really dove into the mindset of my characters, there's pretty much nothing they do that doesn't feel "natural" to me – because it's natural to them. My current protag tends to use a "no?" at the end of a sentence instead of the usual "doesn't it?" ("this really helps us move forward, no?", for example). It might feel stiff to a contemporary reader, but he's a 19th century aristocrat (in a fantasy-steampunk world) and it's just... his annoying flow. xD

So, maybe that's something that might help you establish the "right" moment better? Maybe you don't know ALL the ins and outs of your characters yet, their ticks, their speech patterns and habits when it comes to interactions with other people?

What kind of 3rd person narrator do you have, by the way? Is it the limited one (often called 3rd person intimate, as well)? Might it help you if you write some scenes from other characters' perspectives in 3rd person limited to really get a feeling for this "right" moment?

As someone coming from RPG writing, this is more or less second nature to me, so I figure it might help others, as well.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

So, maybe that's something that might help you establish the "right" moment better? Maybe you don't know ALL the ins and outs of your characters yet, their ticks, their speech patterns and habits when it comes to interactions with other people?

It honestly depends on the character. For some characters that are more flamboyant/outlandish (like a 19th century aristocrat) everything comes naturally, because I can just base their behavior off other people and characters I've seen before. Very little of their personality has anything to do with me; they are who they are.

But most stories have at least one 'everyman' character: someone who's supposed to be more normal, to help ground the reader in the world. And it makes more sense to base those on myself, at least partly. Thus, my issues often become their issues.

What kind of 3rd person narrator do you have, by the way? Is it the limited one (often called 3rd person intimate, as well)?

I don't know....? I don't really like to go out of my way to put definitions on the way I write; the story happens how it happens...
I guess the narrator is kind of omniscient, 'cause I can slip into any character's POV at any time...but at the same time, it's not THAT omniscient, because I generally don't say things about the characters and world that the characters themselves do not know/speak of.
So...whatever you call that.

Might it help you if you write some scenes from other characters' perspectives in 3rd person limited to really get a feeling for this "right" moment?

...I'm not sure I understand the logic in that. ._.

[therealbereth]

Hm, you might want to define your writing for yourself more if you want to find ways to better include such things as, well, revealing characters' names. Switching perspectives all the time (meaning: without real purpose behind it) is kind of a beginner's mistake, I fear.

It might seem as if it offers you freedom because you can jump between the characters, but in the end, it might just put more obstacles in your way because with every switch, the reader has to switch along – which in turn can throw people out of the story. Try to go back to the basics; from there, it should be easier to define ways to introduce concepts and names while the story unfolds. If we're too chaotic in the way we write, we are in danger of confusing our readers. Been there, done that – like probably all of us were at some point. xD

---

As for trying out different characters' perspectives: it can show you exactly what their voice is like. If you find a character's voice, even if it's just a side character, it maaaay just offer you more insight into the dynamics between all characters. Just scribbling for yourself, you know? Like a character study an artist would make, only with words. And with character dynamics, these little moments of "when the f*ck to I introduce names (and other concepts)" COULD reveal themselves to you more readily.

It worked for me until I didn't need these "studies" anymore, so I thought it might do the trick for you, as well. But really, I think evaluating your writing style (or rather, the perspective) should be the first step here. Give yourself some more structure – then break it up to fit your needs. This offers so much room to play around, trust me.

[Mari]

I hate introductory narration so I did the thingy where I just had character's names come up in the story

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Switching perspectives all the time (meaning: without real purpose behind it) is kind of a beginner's mistake, I fear.

I never said I did it 'without real purpose', though...6_6 All I meant was that I don't feel tied to one character, or a specific group of characters. If I feel the next arc in the story would be better told from a new person's perspective, I'll make the switch. I do whatever it takes to keep the story focus as clear as possible, and to keep the story as enjoyable as possible, for both myself and the reader. Beyond that, I have no rules, and I really don't feel any need for them.

...I feel like I should add that I've been writing serious narratives for over 3 years now, and most of the stories I work on (including the one in question) are far older than that. This ain't my first rodeo...and yet, whenever I ask for advice on literary things, I feel like most of the more detailed answers are given with the assumption that (a) I've never really written anything before, or (b) I may write a lot, but I clearly don't know what I'm doing at all and need to go back to the basics.

Like...just because I have a problem AND neglect the traditional rules of the writing game doesn't necessarily mean that I have a problem BECAUSE I neglect the traditional rules of the writing game. If I say I don't draw with guidelines, no one bats an eye (they may even respect me more for it) but if I say I don't pay attention to what perspective I write in all of a sudden I'm everyone's kohai...it's an odd double standard that I've never really understood.

Anyway, I'm not trying to bushwhack you or anything; I'm just venting. We're way off topic at this point anyway...'3'

[therealbereth]

I don't really think it's that much off topic, since what we're talking about directly relates to how best to implement little details like names (or other). ^^

The thing is, the years we're doing this don't necessarily mean that we've got the basics down in order to play around with them (I've been at it for ten years now, and I still have my weak spots in technique, naturally). Of course, the idea of one certain set of basics often stems from western "rules" on writing, often drafted by white men whose books were, uh, let's call them questionable xD, but I still think there are things that work (always depending on context and function of what you're trying to do), and things that don't work. Switching perspectives too much just reads... kinda lazy to me? And it's something many established authors do. George R. R. Martin is the best example I can think of right now, and more often than not, the story itself wouldn't even need all these characters – he just struggles to rein in his own ideas. xD

In any case, I wasn't trying to "accuse" you of being a newbie, but the fact of the matter is that even people who've been at this game for years or even decades don't really develop past a certain point, and I think that's a shame. I was basing my posts on what you gave me, then, of course, so I can't really know how long you've been at it, much less if your switches serve a purpose within your narratives.

Let's just say I'm not the biggest fan of too many perspectives anymore, and let my post stand before that backdrop, shall we? This way, it's still very much a personal preference and less... lecturing? At least I hope so. xD

(At this point, I'm already kinda waiting for you to open a topic on traditional writing rules and what makes them work or not work, tbh. )