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Siobhan wrote: "Hey everyone, I'm in the process of writing a short story, first person narrative, and wondered what your views were on leaving the narrator nameless?"
I believe that could work fine, however if it were me, while in the mode of narrator, I'd try to remain relatively impartial to the subject unless the relationship between narrator and subject is made abundantly clear... But that's only my opinion. :)
Thanks :). I've been struggling with this question since I began the tale. The whole jist of the story is that the narrator is relating (to the reader) the details of a nightmare they are having, which has little to no conversation, resulting in no real chance to give the narrator an identity.
Siobhan wrote: "Hey everyone, I'm in the process of writing a short story, first person narrative, and wondered what your views were on leaving the narrator nameless?"
I wrote a 500 page story and left the POV character nameless to great effect - only at the end of the story did the reader work out that they were reading the character's journal.
I've seen it done in kids' books and in one (Nathaniel Holland's The Adventurers' series) the characters are simply - 'the man' 'the boy' and 'the dog'
I would mention the narrator's name once in an indirect way. Some readers may be uneasy by keeping the narrator nameless (unless you want that effect). That way the narrator would be sort of nameless. Or you add intrigue by making the narrator's name a mystery for readers to solve...
I believe your narrator needs a name, otherwise it may feel like author intrusion. If I were reading the story, I'd wonder about it after the first chapter or so.
Actually, it is often clumsy author intrusion to include a name in a first-person short story. I would say that the bottom line is that if the issue doesn't come up in the story, then it will be fine. If it seems natural that the narrator doesn't have a name then the reader won't even notice. If it seems natural for the name to appear somewhere the reader will absorb it without a hitch. The real problem I have had is with writing a lengthy series in first person. I definitely needed the character to have a name and was told by beta readers that I needed to engineer a way for the character to be called by name a couple of times within the first two or three pages. Considering that people don't actually call close friends and family by name that often, it can be a bit clumsy to include the name at that point. I managed it as many authors do but, by all means, don't incluse a name if the story works without it. The main thing is to test it on some beta readers. Then ask them what the character's name was. If they stop to try to remember and didn't even realize until just then that you didn't include one, then you're golden.
Arie wrote: "The main thing is to test it on some beta readers. Then ask them what the character's name was. If they stop to try to remember and didn't even realize until just then that you didn't include one, then you're golden...."What Arie said. Leaving the character/narrator nameless will lend itself to a dreamlike quality, I think. If you don't want to give away that it is a nightmare, you may need to take care not to give it away too soon.
You guys have all been so helpful and given a lot of food for thought, thanks! I've had a couple of beta readers go through it so far and it didn't seem to bother them that the narrator was nameless and it doesn't give as Kristi said a dreamlike feel to the story.However, it has now been greatly urged to me to include the tale and a similar one into a collection....sort of like a dream story collection. My dilemma is.....do I make keep every story centred around the same narrator (meaning which I'll have to work in a name, since the second story has one) or do I make it a collection of dream tales but by different characters?
Wilbur Smith has written many of his Egyptian series similar to that as an author - but also the main character... Almost like a memoir. I think he does it so very well - but there again, I just enjoy most things that he writes. :)
Arie wrote: "Actually, it is often clumsy author intrusion to include a name in a first-person short story. I would say that the bottom line is that if the issue doesn't come up in the story, then it will be f..."I have a short story (nearly finished) where the male and female leads remain unnamed. The lead male is named Mr at the end but no first names neither do each of their ex partners although other characters are named. Not sure if it will work yet. I now have to put the tale away for a while, then revisit then beta. By then it could all change!
Philip wrote: "Arie wrote: "Actually, it is often clumsy author intrusion to include a name in a first-person short story. I would say that the bottom line is that if the issue doesn't come up in the story, then..."In my book, I didn't mention a surname - I did for most of the supporting characters. I don't think you miss it.
Siobhan wrote: "You guys have all been so helpful and given a lot of food for thought, thanks! I've had a couple of beta readers go through it so far and it didn't seem to bother them that the narrator was nameles..."I think the linked dreams could make a nice setting, but only if the stories are linked. Is it dreams of... character name or Dreams about.....the dream subjects?
S., using the same narrator throughout the series is cool concept
My published series is all in first person with multiple narrators. I put the characters' first name as the chapter heading and only switch on chapters. So, I definitely have names. But I often don't have surnames for major characters. The ostensible MC has a surname as do a few others and some supporting characters who are relatively minor. It is all about what comes up and doesn't distract the reader from the story. That is the key issue in my opinion. It all comes down to whether or not it is distracting.
Thanks James, I'm glad you like the idea of using the same narrator. It was a hard decision for the two stories that have been written so far, we're actually composed a year a part and we're not until recently meant to be part of a series. Though both in first person, they were originally narrated by different characters until I decided I had to link them together some how and therefore made them the same character.I agree with Paul and Aria and have left a surname out. I don't want to complicate things and so far in the two existing stories the narrator's name is only briefly mentioned once in each. It just blends into the story and readers may or may not even pick up on it.
As to the link Philip, I'm still a bit sketchy on that point. The fact that they will be all about nightmares the same narrator keeps having is the main link, but as to why she is having them yet I haven't deduced yet. They're both laced with mythology and involve the narrator's family, so the link will have to be something involving one or both.
Slobhan, I think there are other possibilities to consider besides series or not linked at all. There are "companion stories" and other types of links you can make without calling it a series. A series generally indicates that there is some progression from one to the other, either for the character or for a larger story. But you can link different works in other ways. You can call them "a cycle" instead of "a series," for instance. Just mentioning ideas. I knnow that phase of things still needing to creatively settle into the right form.
Originally I was thinking of grouping them as a collection and not so much a series. It was the fans of the original blurb I put out there to get feedback, who asked me to continue with it and make it into a series. To be quite honest the whole thing has caught me off guard, because I had never planned on expanding the first flash fiction piece, let alone writing others. I have figured out how to link them now, but still am unsure what exactly to label them as I have no idea yet how many I will end up writing. I can't envision the idea developing into an actual novel so the short stories will have to correspond with each other only....but who knows what the creative future will hold!
For what it is worth...When I started writing my second story, my editor thought that I should try to use some of the characters from my first book in subsequent stories. He said that it not only takes the stress out of finding suitable names and descriptions, but your reader is already a bit familiar with the character of the person as well. I thought it was a good idea so I did take one character from book one and used that person in the 2nd story.
When it came to the 3rd book, about to be published now, I used two of the minor characters from the 2nd book as main characters in my 3rd, and also had a cameo of the main characters from the 2nd.
However, I do not call it a series. Each story stands on its own and you do not have to read the prior story to understand what's going on.
Books don't have to be read in order to be a series. My Sisters of Spirit series concerned women who joined a sisters group in college, then each had her separate story. The books did not have to be read in order. Romance books lose their momentum if you don't have a separate romance in each one. So I had the characters meet again for weddings and baby showers, but otherwise they lived all over the U.S and had their own story. Also wrote a family story, Civil War Trahern series, where each story concerned one of the family members. Spanned at least a decade. 12 book is so different.
Nancy wrote: "Books don't have to be read in order to be a series. My Sisters of Spirit series concerned women who joined a sisters group in college, then each had her separate story. The books did not have to b..."Thank you, Nancy. That's encouraging.
All food for thought, thank you Sharon and Nancy :)
Sharon wrote: "For what it is worth...When I started writing my second story, my editor thought that I should try to use some of the characters from my first book in subsequent stories. He said that it not onl..."
At the moment, I'm in the process of writing a second book. I chose to roughly pick up where the other left off and have used the same main characters... I did that because I actually liked those main characters' and feel they have so much more to express. At this point, there hasn't been any others that feel their voice needs to be heard more than them. :)
Paul wrote: "Sharon wrote: "For what it is worth...When I started writing my second story, my editor thought that I should try to use some of the characters from my first book in subsequent stories. He said ..."
But does one have to read the first book to understand the characters in the second? In my books you don't necessarily have to read one of the prior books in order to read the second or third, although that would be nice.
On occasion, I have picked up a book and read it, only to find that I missed a whole lot by not reading the preceding book. Because of that, I decided that none of my books would fall into that problem. All of them stand alone, even if I do hope that people will read the first ones first. After all, I want the reader to be wholly satisfied with the story they have.
Sharon wrote: "Paul wrote: "Sharon wrote: "For what it is worth...When I started writing my second story, my editor thought that I should try to use some of the characters from my first book in subsequent stori..."
I think the story including its characters stand on their own. On occasion - when a greater understanding was needed, I included a sentence or two that reflected an event which happened in the previous story. Although not needed, I do express reading the first story would give a much greater understanding of what motivates and drives the main characters.
When I am writing, a name comes to mind based on my thoughts of the personality of that character. Some names had strong personalities in my mind. If the name is one that I haven't developed yet or the main character, I usually pick a name. Normally a four letter character since it is quicker to type over and over. If I pick a long name, normally I change it to a nickname and use that over and over. Making up last names is harder but I use combinations of names to create a new last name since my fictional characters are never related to anyone I know. That is my take on characters names. A.G.
In striving to become a better writer, I've been working on character development. I think in the beginning, I focused more on plot development. I've found that continuing with my same characters into successive books has allowed me to find ways to go deeper into their relationships, histories, and personalities. I think I hardly knew them!
I'm in the process of writing a short story, first person narrative, and wondered what your views were on leaving the narrator nameless?