: Re: Way to write an unnamed character? Someone I'm proofreading for has a protagonist that, for whatever reason, has a blanked out name. She writes it as '_____' which I feel disrupts the flow

@Annie587

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The key words here are, "for whatever reason". If the reason is not clear from reading the story, this is a problem. There's nothing wrong with doing something strange or unusual in a story. Being original is a great thing. But there is a great deal wrong with doing something strange or unusual for no apparent reason. This looks like a gimmick and quickly becomes simply annoying.

I'd suggest the writer either, (a) Explain why she is blanking out the name. Even at that, if the name shows up more than once or twice, I think it would be better to replace it with some actual words. Like, "I cannot give her real name, so I will call her Sally Blank." Or (b) Give the character some sort of name. If there's a reason why the character's name is important and this cannot yet be revealed, then at least give a quick line about this. Like, "No one knew her name, so we just started calling her Jane ..." Or let a fake name be given in a way that you can later say it was a fake name. Like, "My name is Jane Miller, she said." Now later you can say that she was lying and that isn't really her name, but in the meantime you have something to call her.

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