When writing about a character?

Question

I know I should know this but when writing about a character in a story Im writing, if I want to indicate a certain character is doing a sort of routine, do I have to EXAMPLE:

Daniel went into the kitchen. Then Daniel took out some bread. Then Daniel ate the bread.

Do I have to indicate the character by its name or can I say he or she?

Answer 1

Good question.
I suggest that you get a style guide, like "elements of style" or "the fiction writer's style guide", which will explain such things in detail.
It's also a great reference for puctuation and grammar rules.
If you're serious about writing, you should have a style guide next to you, along with a good dictionary and thesaurus.

Best wishes,
James

Answer 2

Names become an issue when you have to or more people of the same sex in the same sentence.


He told him to go into the kitchen and eat some bread.

Confusing.

He told Daniel to go into the kitchen and eat some bread.

An editor would red pen the whole part about taking out the bread, unless you know a way to eat bread through a breadbox, it would be assumed he took the bread out.

Try to take what you are writing down to bare bones before you add adjectives. Then, the tendency is to add too much.

He angrily told Daniel to go to the kitchen and quickly eat some bread.

Stephen King in his masterwork On Writing said "The road to Hell is paved with adverbs". Remember that.


----
They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.

Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.

Pax - C

Answer 3

Depends on the point you're trying to make. If you try to describe everything Daniel does, you will bore your audience silly.

"Daniel moved his left foot forward and put it down. Then he shifted his weight onto that foot and lifted his right foot. He moved his right foot forward and put it down. Then he..."

On the other hand, that may be exactly what you need to do. If, for instance, Daniel's life is sickeningly routine and it's important for the audience to know that, then boring them a little might be called for. Only a little, though. You don't want them to stop reading.

As for names, "he" or "she" will usually do after the first time in a paragraph, as long as you don't have somebody else do something else in between. The general rule is, make sure the audience never has any trouble figuring out who "he" is. If there's a doubt, find a way to resolve it. If that means using his name, do it. If you can be more clever, that's ok, too. Just don't be too clever for your audience.

Answer 4

Use the character's name often enough to be sure the reader knows who is currently indicated, but use he/she. Overuse of a character's name will seem stiff, even sort of phony.

Daniel went to the kitchen to fix something to eat. He went for some bread to make a sandwich, but found it was stale, so he grabbed an apple and left.....(for example) :)

Answer 5

I would say Daniel the first time, he the other two times. Some writers go on for pages saying he or she because they know the audience knows who they're talking about. Writing involves reading over carefully what you've written and asking yourself how well someone reading this for the first time will be able to understand it. If there's room for improvement, just rewrite it. No one ever gets it right the first time.

Answer 6

Terry S makes a good point here. Daniel is in the kitchen and Daniel is along, so, you don't need to keep using his name over and over again.

Example:

Daniel's body was exhausted, but his mind refused to sleep. He finally talked himself into going into the kitchen to fix a few pieces of toast. He was hungry, but not hungry enough to end up fixing anything too heavy to go back to bed on.

Bad Example:

Daniel's body was exhausted, but his mind refused to sleep. Daniel finally talked himself into going into the kitchen to fix a few pieces of toast. Daniel was hungry, but not hungry enough to end up fixing anything too heavy to go back to bed on.

See for yourself that it's an overuse of the name. Also, remember that in writing, it's always good to 'show' your readers what's going on, not come right out and 'tell.'

Answer 7

You can use any combination of the thing you have mentioned. Try writing it in first person as if you are doing it. This may help.

Also, use the character's name initially to establish the scene...