Names And Nicknames

[Galadriel Gal]

OK, so I'm wondering....

I'm writing a book where the main character, could have a possible Sometimes I call him by his full name and sometimes by his nickname. Is this too confusing for the reader to keep track of? The nickname and name are very close, and just have a few letters cut out.

Thanks,

*Galadriel Gal*

 

[Lessien]

It could work. In the narrative, you should always call him by his full name or his nickname. Pick one or the other. But In the dialogue, you could call him by his nickname sometimes and his full name other times. Like, other characters could call him by his nickname sometimes and his full name other times. Hope that helped....

 

[Kaylee4Christ]

What I always do is tell the full name at the beginning inconspicuously, (sp?) and then explain the nickname throughout the story.

Kaylee

 

[jesusfreak10537]

I do what Lessien said: I have other character call him by his nickname, but in the narrative I call him by his full name.

 

[HelpingHand]

There should be certain characters that call him by his nickname, and then some that call him by his full name. If that is what you mean, then that works good. once your readers get into your book, they'll know who your talking about anyway. But as they said, in the narrative, use the chosen name for your character.

 

[Tariel]

I think that it really depends on the name and the character. In the story I'm writing, the main character I call by her full name in the narrative, but any character that she already knows calls her by her nickname. When she meets a character she gets called by her full name until I decide that they know each other.

But there's also another character who doesn't like her given name very much and she goes by her nickname all the time. Then I use her nickname in the narrative as well. It's whatever works for you

 

[TrueQ]

Is the nickname just a shortening of the character's full name, or is it a unique name with a story behind it?

If it's just a shortened version of the character's full name, it'll probably work (So long as other characters don't have the same name). If it's a unique name, it might work, might not, it depends a lot on the character's relationship with the other characters.

 

[ShirleyTemple777]

Sometimes , Authors call the character by there name for awhile..explan the nick name and call him by his nick name the rest of the time..

 

[Tariel]

If it's just a shortened version of the character's full name, it'll probably work (So long as other characters don't have the same name). If it's a unique name, it might work, might not, it depends a lot on the character's relationship with the other characters.

Unique names are tricky to do, if done wrong they can distract from the story so much. They can be done well (think Aragorn from Lord of the Rings), but I try to avoid those kind of nicknames.