: Re: Does the protagonist need a name? Does the main character in a short story need a name? My story gives lots of other details about the character.

There are situations in which having a nameless character works, but it takes a lot of skill to bring off. The best example I can think of is the nameless hero of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti Westerns. The lack of a name made him, IMHO, both more and less than a man.

Another example I remember is a story printed in Analog during the 70s or early 80s. The protagonist was a girl and the other major character was her parrot. No names needed for her. I think it worked because of her isolation.

However, it's been done badly many times. For example, the writer of the web comic A Girl and Her Fed tried to have the two protagonists (the girl and the fed) be without names. She called him Sparky and he didn't use a name for her. It worked when it was just the two of them, but it started falling apart when there were more people.

The fed was quickly given a name when his boss had to have somebody get him on the phone. The girl stayed mostly nameless for the first part of the story. After that she just gave up on it. It can sound very stilted to avoid names all the time.

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: Re: Does the protagonist need a name? Does the main character in a short story need a name? My story gives lots of other details about the character.

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: Use this tag for questions about the genre litRPG, which is mostly about fantasy or science-fiction novels that are set in a world that has elements you typically associate with role playing

: How do I show and not tell a backstory? In my novel, Matt's girlfriend Ella gets kidnapped and Matt is held responsible by the kidnappers. As it wasn't for ransom but as a revenge of something

: Writing structure of a book review I am writing a book review about the book My name is number 4 by Ting-Xing Ye. The book review is going to have a thesis statement, with 3 supporting arguments.

: How Should I Write my Character Discovering Superpowers? Does anyone have any tips on introducing your m/c's superpowers? My novel is set as a supernatural teen flick playing on the roles of

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