Narration question for my writing friends...

[switch842]

In the narration of a story, should people be referred to by first or last name? In my latest story, right now, I have everything as "blah blah blah," FirstName said. But, there are some characters where we don't have first names, so they are "blah blah blah," LastName said. But that's just inconsistent, isn't it? So, should I make up first names for everyone? Or change everything to LastName said?

Comments

[regann]

For me it depends on how tight the POV is. I tend to write from a limited 3rd person POV; I'm usually in someone's head. If that's the case, I use that character as my guide.

Like -- if I'm writin a Psych from a Lassiter POV, then it'll be Spencer and Guster, etc. but if I'm writing from Shawn's POV it'll be Gus and Jules and Lassy, so on and so forth.

When I've written from less tight POVs -- say plain 3rd person, no headspace -- I've let the majority rule. For example, in a Psych fic, it would be Lassiter, Shawn, Gus, probably, with a toss-up for Juliet vs. O'Hara. I think First/Last name is irrelevant when it comes to inconsistenty. If everyone calls Character A by his last name and Character B by her first name, it makes much more clear, IMO, to use the names most associated with the character.

I hope that makes sense? :)

[wraith816.livejournal.com]

I agree with regann. It depends a lot on fandom, POV, and context.

If you're writing a movie!Jack and Daniel fic, they're prolly going by last names. If it's series, they've moved on to a first name basis. If it's Sam's POV, she should be calling Jack by his rank (BECAUSE IT IS NOT TWU WUV I DON'T CARE WHAT TPTB THINK OMG ICK). In House, everyone calls each other by their last names. In Supernatural, it'd be really freaking confusing if you called them both Winchester.

[ms-3m.livejournal.com]

I'm not a writer but I do alpha and beta fic and I don't think you are over-thinking the situation. To me, this is a sign of a writer trying to carefully craft a story, especially one that is based in fandom as opposed to an original story.

I agree with wraith816 and regann's second post about associating names with the person 'speaking'.

One of the things that I've often commented on in a beta is a character using a form of address that is inconsistent with what happens in the show/movie.

Just my four cents! Inflation you know.

:D

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

If that's the way they're referred to on the show, it doesn't matter. That's how the reader is used to hearing the characters talked to or about - by their first or last name.

You wouldn't call Daniel "Jackson" unless you were Mitchell: no one called him that unless they meant to get his goat or reject his friendly overatures.

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

Like regann I also write from a limited 3rd person POV. When I started out I was lucky to get a comprehensive beta/tutorial from an excellent writer who discouraged my "head-hopping" (switching randomly from one POV to another). While I have read universal POV in pro-fic (CS Lewis comes to mind) most of the published literature and fanfic I've read either limits the POV to one character the entire story (think Harry Potter - if he's present in the scene it's always in his POV) or switched POV is denoted by the story being sectioned accordingly. It never changes mid-paragraph.

That accomplished, then the characters are referred to however the person you're writing as would call them. If you're writing as Jack O'Neill then you're going to call your colleagues Daniel and Carter. If you're writing as Daniel you'd refer to Jack and Sam. If you're Sam you'd refer to Daniel and the Colonel. If you're Teal'c you'd refer to Daniel Jackson, Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter.

I recommend Stephen King's "On Writing" as an excellent resource.