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Characters WITHOUT Names
https://archive.holyworlds.org/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1637		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Rachel Newhouse [ December 13th, 2010, 3:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Characters WITHOUT Names
Do you have any significant characters that are nameless? Why are they nameless? How does this tie into your plot?

And how do you deal with the anonymity in the narration and dialog? How do you refer to the nameless character? How do other characters manage?
Author:  Melody Kondrael [ December 13th, 2010, 3:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
In one of my sci-fi's I have a character who is named simply "The Journalist". (his real name's Derek but nobody really asks. ;))

Characters coped. Characters just call him the Journalist -- some because they don't know his name, and some because they think it's so awesomely cool that way. ;)

But it was a script so I didn't have to handle a narrator.
Author:  Rachel Newhouse [ December 13th, 2010, 3:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
I have one character that is nameless, and the entire plot of the story revolves around his search for an identity.

This boy, now nearly 16, was never named because his eccentric mother refused to pick a name until his father came home. The father abandoned the family and never returned, and the kid is tired of being a nameless "status." So he sets out to find his father and gets stuck in a 1970s orange hippie van with a bunch of other mildly insane relatives. :rofl:

Obviously, the boy's anonymity plays a large part in the story. His mother unofficially calls him "Child," and that is the name used on documents. That is also the term the narration uses consistently. Additionally, relatives often refer to him by relation - son, grandson, nephew, etc.

I use these "names" to make a point in the story. The boy hates being a nameless "status," so he sets out to earn a real name and an identity. What he learns is that part of your personal identity is in your relationship to others, and titles like "son" and "father" are very special indeed because of the relationships they signify.

Because you pick one name for a character and stick with it in the narration (action) of a script, dealing with the anonymity isn't difficult from the writer's standpoint. What's going to be tricky is explaining that Child doesn't have a name and why... without being OTN...
Author:  Rachel Newhouse [ December 13th, 2010, 3:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
"The Journalist" stuck so badly. It just fits the character beautifully - who cares if he's got a real name? :D
Author:  Aragorn [ December 13th, 2010, 5:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
I sometimes write short stories in first person, which allows for the character not to be named in some instances. This saves me from having to come up with a name for a character who is only around for a few pages.
Author:  Riniel Jasmina [ December 13th, 2010, 5:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
I have two characters that lack names for the first part of my story. This is because they were basically lab experiments and were never named beyond Nova 1 and Nova 2. In contact with each other they refer to the other as Nova but they never tell anyone else their "name" because in their minds it belongs to the other. For narration reference I use descriptions so "the child", the boy" etc. Characters have more trouble with it but these two don't interact much before they find names.
Author:  Melody Kondrael [ December 13th, 2010, 10:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
Philadelphia wrote:
"The Journalist" stuck so badly. It just fits the character beautifully - who cares if he's got a real name? :D


Very true. :D

I look forward to returning to that character someday. :)
Author:  Calenmiriel [ December 14th, 2010, 12:32 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
I have many unnamed characters in Charlotte's Story since they don't exist yet. I only have key characters figured out...still needing to figure out side characters...I'm not going to think about that task at the moment. XD

I tend to make up characters as I go, so that's probably how it'll end up in Charlotte's Story. :P
Author:  Andrew Amnon Mimetes [ December 14th, 2010, 6:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
I HAD unnamed characters. But then I got involved working in a sort of backstory and Shan and Aione got names =)

eruheran
Author:  Rachel Newhouse [ December 14th, 2010, 11:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
Jonathan Garner wrote:
I sometimes write short stories in first person, which allows for the character not to be named in some instances. This saves me from having to come up with a name for a character who is only around for a few pages.


Agreed. Often, in short works, you can get away without naming characters. The same goes for insignificant characters in longer works, as well as scripts.
Author:  Airianna Valenshia [ December 15th, 2010, 10:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
Yeah, just think of all the characters in credits who are known as "Teacher #1", "Teacher #2", and so on.
Author:  Kiev Shawn [ December 15th, 2010, 10:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
And you have no idea who is #1, and who is #2. :roll:
Author:  Airianna Valenshia [ December 15th, 2010, 10:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Characters WITHOUT Names
Yeah, that is always annoying.
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