How long can a character remain nameless?

I have a main character who has half the book in her third-person POV. The problem is, it is essential to her character that she not remember her name. Another character names her and that is a big turning point in the story. The problem is, it doesn't come until about halfway through the story. How long can I keep a character nameless, referring to her as "she"? In my current draft, it's at least three chapters, but in my proposed outline for my next draft, it looks like it could be even further back because I'm taking more time with the relationship that was far too rushed in earlier drafts.

It's not like I can move the beginning forward either, to maybe cut down on the time she is nameless and skip over the preceding action. It is very important to the development of her relationship with the character who names her that they have time to grow. I can't just cut it.

Can I just leave it as is? I don't know anymore. I didn't really notice it before because I'm so close to the work and know exactly what I mean, but I'm worried about reader confusion...

Thoughts?

~GryphonFledgling

I guess this one really depends on your writing style. Do you feel that it makes your writing heavy handed? It could certainly become an issue in scenes where there is more than one female character; and names are usually used to clear up which "she" you are referring to. It might be worth considering having first person sequences.

I'm doing a similar thing with a mixed narration for a male character; writing for amnesiacs is incredibly hard and I might need to go out and interview someone who's sufferred from the condition.

As long as it isn't really confusing and "she" isn't repeated too much, I think it should be ok. It depends on how it's written.

If the other character is female, or your character is going to be in a lot of situations where there will be females around for long periods, I'd make your work into a first-person story to avoid confusion.

~Rosey

How long can a character remain nameless? See: Fight Club.

Maybe capitalize She every time you refer to her, to distinguish Her. Haha.

Haha... I had a character who was known as "the freak" throughout the story. It was awesome.

If you have a lot of characters call her different names so that there is no set name. Then, when she chooses to be called a particular name, it'll mean more.

I like Perforated and Snoink's ideas.

Maybe identify her by her physical characteristics, e.g. "The Brown Eyed Girl" (a small debt owed to Van Morrison!)? What do you reckon?

Thanks everyone!

Rubric:

Do you feel that it makes your writing heavy handed?

I don't think so and I haven't had complaints from people who've read the first draft, so I guess I'll try it out and see how it works for people reading the second draft.

KailaMarie: Thankies!

Rosey Unicorn:

If the other character is female, or your character is going to be in a lot of situations where there will be females around for long periods, I'd make your work into a first-person story to avoid confusion.

Nah, I avoid prolonged female contact in her POV for that exact reason. I'd really rather not turn this sucker into a first person POV just because she is a very hard character to write in perspective because of how her mind works. She is a bit crazy.

Kang227:

See: Fight Club.

Hmm, must do so...

PerforatedxHearts:

Maybe capitalize She every time you refer to her, to distinguish Her.

Ooh... It's a thought.

Snoink:

If you have a lot of characters call her different names so that there is no set name. Then, when she chooses to be called a particular name, it'll mean more.

Yeah, that's sort of what happens.

Gahks:

Maybe identify her by her physical characteristics, e.g. "The Brown Eyed Girl" (a small debt owed to Van Morrison!)? What do you reckon?

Actually I do that... She's really pale among darker tan people and so everyone identifies her in their head as the "pale skin".

I feel a lot better about the whole thing now. I guess I'll see how it plays out when I finish writing the second draft and ask some YWS opinions on it... Thanks again peepsteds!

~GryphonFledgling

How long can a character remain nameless? See: Fight Club.

Soooooo very true.


Also, if it ends up getting too confusing, your other character can give her a nickname. He can't very well call her, "hey you" or whatever through however long it is.

Sounds like you have this figured out, but here's an idea:

Maybe have her give herself some ridiculous nickname? She could refer to herself that way. Then when someone gives her an actual name it is still pretty meaningful and makes her feel a lot better about herself now that she has a real, and quite less ridiculous, name.

I once had a friend write a piece with a character who's name wasn't revealed until a few chapters in. They described him as 'dressed like a cowboy', or something along those lines, in the introduction. From then on, they usually called him "Mr. Cowboy", or "Cowboy" (neither of which being his real name, of course), or anything like that - it was almost poking fun at the story, breaking the fourth wall kind of deal. It also worked pretty well for them.

Kang227 wrote:How long can a character remain nameless? See: Fight Club.

Exactly what I was going to say.