: Re: How best to handle revealing a main character's name midway through a long story in close-third person? I'm writing a novel, and it's written in close third person perspective, very much sitting

@Ann1701686

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No concrete examples are coming to mind at the moment, but just thinking about it leads me to believe it's best to stick with the character's nickname. But this assertion is circumstantial: you say the main character has started to use this fellow's real name; I ask you why?

If someone is going by Nicky the whole time and then dramatically reveals their true name to be Nikolaevich, why does this make it necessary for the other characters to change what they call him? Is your character specifically indicating that he wishes to be referred to by his full name? If not, continue to use the nickname, both in narration and dialogue.

Ah! I thought of a simple example. In Harry Potter, Voldemort's true name is in time revealed to be Tom Riddle. Dumbledore always calls him by this name (Tom), but he is still called Voldemort by the narrator and by other characters talking about him. Few other characters ever address him by name. It's rarely necessary to do so--how often do your dialogues need to start out with a name? "Sarah, I wish it were louder." "Mick, I'm afraid so." I actually think it should only occur in a small percentage of your dialogues. And other characters referring to this fellow when he's not around would still use the name they know best--his nickname.

As a rule, I find it's bad to change what a third person narrator calls a character, anywhere, ever. It's discombobulating and strange, because that narrator is assumed to have certain transcendental and genuine knowledge of a concrete and absolute nature. I can't think of a single instance of it ever happening, in anything I've read, unless someone had been using a flat-out fake identity.

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