: Re: Naming my character I am a beginner, would like to know if I can start a short story calling my main character "he" and then introduce his name later. If so when is a good time to do this?

@Miguel976

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Yes. Don't put your character's name in until it feels necessary. Someone calling your character's name can be much more impactful than the narrator saying it, and the way that it's said can also inform the reader of their relationship.

Names aren't always necessary, but they help the reader to picture the character in their head. If you want to maintain a distance between the reader and the character, don't name them, or call them 'Mr/Ms Jackson'.

The longer the piece, the more difficult it is to get away with not naming your character. However, there's nothing to say that you can't refer to him as 'he' in the first draft and change it later on, once the idea is down.

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