How to refer to characters in fiction?

Question

When writing fiction, is it better to refer to characters by their first or last names? Are there special rules for if they're high ranking government or military figures? What about soldiers?

Answer 1

As you think suits your plot the best. You may refer to the same character in different ways to impress upon the reader that he has many impressions. There are no rules for it. Derek Jones can be called Derek and Mr. Jones too. Obviously, Mr. Jones looks formal to a person who doesnt know who Mr. Jones is. If I refer to him in my book as Mr. Jones, it will be misleading if Derek turns out to a eight year-old kid. But then, I may have to dio it if the plot requirse it to be done. Isnt it?

Soldiers can reffered to by their titles, like Sergent Marcus. Or Marcus. Or Even Jones from the previous example. Since senior military personnel are used to calling their juniors by their last names, it will better to do so, if you are writing from that point of view.

Hope I helped.

TW K

Answer 2

That depends on your character analysis. Think about life. Are there some people you refer to by their last names and some people you address more informally? Take the NY Yankees - Derek Jeter always refers to Joe Torre as Mr Torre. That is just his way. Your character studies will dictate how your characters address each other. It may change. Someone might call a character Bob throughout the whole book but change to calling him Jones when he is angry. There is no set rule. However, when it comes to military, there are actually rules. If it was me, I would interview a soldier and ask him, It shouldn't be too hard to find someone either in the military or retired. Ask them to give you specific details as to protocol when it comes to names. There may be other types of protocol you need to know within the story - saluting, standing at attention, etc. I have a whole team of consultants I use to write mystery novels. I have a cop, a doctor, a lawyer, a munitions expert (hi guys!!) and several others. When I am stuck, I ask. You should start developing contacts like that. They are invaluable when it comes to writing accurately. Pax - C

Answer 3

When I was writing about the crew of a ship, I almost always used the last name, even for the POV character.
The exeption would be in some startling epiphany where the character considers how shocking something is--then I sometimes used his full name---first and last names.
It got tricky when I had two captains who were brothers---they had the same title and the same last name. I just had to be careful that the reader knew which one I was refering to.

For civilians, it depends on the POV character---if Captain Jones is familiar with a woman, he might think of her as Betty. If he's not so familiar, he might think of her as Miss Smith.

This will also help to show how your POV character thinks--by how the narrative refers to people when it's from that person's POV.

You might try it several different ways. Then set it aside for a month before looking at it again, and see which seems best.

That was a great question, by the way, and something I've had to wrestle with, too.

Best wishes,
James

Answer 4

It is completely up to you, it is after all your writing.

Though, it is best to be constant with the names you use for a single individual, otherwise the reader may become confused.

With military or government figures, you should probably go the way it is in real life. Also with doctors, you should use the title 'Dr.' or 'Doctor' and then the last name. With a military figure, state the rank, and then either their last name, or their first and last names, it's goes the same for government officials.

But, it is up to you in the end, and with fiction, you can come up with a world all your own, where ranks in the military don't even exist.

Hope that helped.

Answer 5

When I write, I use the first and last name somewhere in the first few chapters. This is only done for the 'main' characters though. Subsequent characters can be referred to by their last name. Once you're sure that you've established the characters in all their glory, then and only then do you use the first name. You don't want to confuse the reader with names that sound alike or are too close for comfort.

Soldiers can be Sgt. Barry Hardhat. General Winston Halftrack. Here again, you only want to use the full name if they are main characters in your work and are going to be seen quite often. Even then, you would use General Halftrack or Sgt. Hardhat. No need to use the first names over and over again.

Answer 6

It would depend on your story, as long as you are consistent or you risk confusing people.

Soldiers would probably be the only ones you would want to worry about, since it is more common for a soldier to be called by their last name. The rest of the characters will be calling him by his last name, you may want to also.

But the rest, Government officials, whoever, just pick which one you want.

Answer 7

However people would refer to the character in real life is how you should refer to them as the narrator.