Characters Who Changed Names

[Hsinju]

I have a question regarding listing characters in books where they had gone under name change.

Suppose there is a series with 3 books.
Book 1. Amy Smith is a fairly important character.
Book 2. Smith realized he is trans and now go by the name Alan Smith.
Book 3. Smith married and decided to hyphenate his last name: Alan Johnson-Smith.

For book 1, we would want to list the character name as ‘Amy Smith’ because using any other name would be a huge spoiler for the series. For book two, if the blurb already states his name ‘Alan Smith’, we would want to list that. For book 3, if we already know he was married, we would list him as ‘Alan Johnson-Smith’.

How do I edit a character to make sure these three names are the same person and that there won’t be spoilers in the character section for prior books? (That is, users won’t see ‘Alan Johnson-Smith’ listed in book 1.)

Thanks.

[lethe]

Hsinju wrote: "How do I edit a character to make sure these three names are the same person and that there won’t be spoilers in the character section for prior books? (That is, users won’t see ‘Alan Johnson-Smith’ listed in book 1.)"

The only way to "link" characters is by using the Aliases field, see f.e. https://www.goodreads.com/characters/... (I put "link" in quotes because it is not actually a link.)

The different names can be added to their respective book(s). The later names can have the earlier names stated in the Aliases field, but not vice versa.

So 'Amy Smith''s Aliases field should remain blank to avoid spoilers. 'Alan Smith' could have Amy Smith in the Aliases field, and 'Alan Johnson-Smith' both Amy Smith and Alan Smith.

If a book contains two versions of the character's name, both can be added as characters, but they will appear as two different characters.

(Hoping I make myself clear, if not, please ask :) )

[Hsinju]

lethe wrote: "Hsinju wrote: "How do I edit a character to make sure these three names are the same person and that there won’t be spoilers in the character section for prior books? (That is, users won’t see ‘Ala..."

Thank you, lethe, for answering. This totally resolves my confusion!

[lethe]

:)

lethe wrote: "If a book contains two versions of the character's name, both can be added as characters, but they will appear as two different characters."

Forgot to say that in these cases it may be better to leave out the later name if that would constitute a spoiler.

[Hsinju]

lethe wrote: "Forgot to say that in these cases it ..."

Totally. Thanks again for the clarification!