Question: What would you do?

[AStrangeDesire]

Honestly, the biggest thing is how does the MC think of her? It's first person, so you treat narrative voice very similar to dialogue. You want to hew to what he is mentally referring to her as. That's the main consideration for each reference to her. In that moment, is he thinking of her as Bella or Hannah?

MMC: 'Oh, there's Bella, strike that, Hannah. Don't say Bella. Don't say Bella. Don't say Bella'

"Hi Hannah," yes! got it right, "It's great to see you!"

--

Sorry, couldn't help myself, that's probably how that would go in my own head...

 

[PapaRomantic]

In the story I’m working on, Steve transitions into Sabrina. The story is told in first person, and depending on how Steve/Sabrina is presenting, they will refer to the other persona in the third person.
Sabrina says, “Steve doesn’t get back until Sunday.”
Steve says, “I’ll tell Sabrina you said hi.”

It works as ling as you keep it straight and make it clear who’s talking.

I do love this idea, and I have a specific scene where something like this would work extremely well.

He looked over at her, seeing the worry in her face.

"Babe, what would Hannah do?"

"She'd crawl into your lap and ask you to hold her to protect her from the unknown."

He smiled and said, "Then, what would Bianca do?"

She smiled. "Bianca would never be afraid to show her body off in a strange and potentially exciting situation."

He leaned over to kiss her. "Then let's let Hannah go for a while. I know she'll be back soon."

 

[PapaRomantic]

Honestly, the biggest thing is how does the MC think of her? It's first person, so you treat narrative voice very similar to dialogue. You want to hew to what he is mentally referring to her as. That's the main consideration for each reference to her. In that moment, is he thinking of her as Bella or Hannah?

That's what I'm trying to do now. I know there may be many changes ahead before this is ready to submit. But this is certainly a good rule.

 

[PapaRomantic]

MMC: 'Oh, there's Bella, strike that, Hannah. Don't say Bella. Don't say Bella. Don't say Bella'

"Hi Hannah," yes! got it right, "It's great to see you!"

--

Sorry, couldn't help myself, that's probably how that would go in my own head...

Now I'm concerned - It's "Bianca," not "Bella." But Anthro also got it wrong, and I understand how that could happen!

 

[AStrangeDesire]

Now I'm concerned - It's "Bianca," not "Bella." But Anthro also got it wrong, and I understand how that could happen!

I just looked at the post above mine, sorry

Don't be concerned please!

 

[anthrodisiac]

Now I'm concerned - It's "Bianca," not "Bella." But Anthro also got it wrong, and I understand how that could happen!

What the fuck is my excuse?

Edit: Thank God, it was the last name that I mistranslated to the first name. "Bellissima." Phew! Sorry about that

 

[PapaRomantic]

What the fuck is my excuse?

I didn't construct that sentence very well. I probably should have said, "But Anthro got it wrong, and I can see how anybody could make the mistake."

Or something like that....

 

[anthrodisiac]

I didn't construct that sentence very well. I probably should have said, "But Anthro got it wrong, and I can see how anybody could make the mistake."

Or something like that....

Nah, that's on me, dude, apologies. I should, on occasion, perhaps pay attention

 

[PapaRomantic]

Nah, that's on me, dude, apologies. I should, on occasion, perhaps pay attention

I'm not keeping score or anything, so it's all good.

 

[SimonDoom]

I see the reason why you would say that, and it's very logical. The only issue I have with that is that she's never going to completely give up her porn star image and the work she does as an adult actress. I will certainly take this advice under advisement as I finish the story. Thanks for your input!

I think you're getting a lot of good advice in this thread, but ultimately it's up to you. Don't feel that you have to adapt the name choice to your dumbest reader to avoid all possibility of confusion. I WOULD recommend that you ask yourself if it may seem confusing to a reasonably intelligent reader, and I'd recommend doing what is necessary to avoid that confusion.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My question is this - would you keep her porn star name through the entire story, or would you alternate her names depending on which persona she is playing in particular scenes? I'm trying to name her porn star name in that persona, then switching to her real name in her regular person persona. My worry is that I'll confuse the readers.

It's obvious to me that you'd use both names. BUT: readers are clever. If you set up the scenario clearly, you don't need an explanation up front, you don't need to labour the situation, you don't need to worry they'll get confused (unless your writing is so diabolically confusing they've got no choice).

I often have stories where a character has a pet name which the MC begins using selectively, depending on her mood, his mood, what's going on. You don't need a big signpost saying, "Name change ahead, here's what it means." You can be far more subtle than that.

My last story has a Cassandra, very formal, but her friends call her Cassie, except the MC who mostly calls her Cassandra (never Cassie). The third person narrator calls her Cassie, the readers know her as Cassie. But when they're truly intimate and she's exposed her soul, she becomes Cass. But only ever with him.

The coding of the names should come from context, not over-elaborate explanations.

 

[txblush]

Honestly, the biggest thing is how does the MC think of her? It's first person, so you treat narrative voice very similar to dialogue. You want to hew to what he is mentally referring to her as. That's the main consideration for each reference to her. In that moment, is he thinking of her as Bianca or Hannah?

Wouldn't it be the same in 3rd person? The reason I ask is because I have a MFC that calls her lover by his given name, but the MMC refers to himself by his nickname. So do all of his friends.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Wouldn't it be the same in 3rd person? The reason I ask is because I have a MFC that calls her lover by his given name, but the MMC refers to himself by his nickname. So do all of his friends.

Not necessarily. At that point, it depends on the narrator. You get into more subjective choices at that point. If you're sticking with third-person limited, you'd probably want to hew closer to the MC's idea of what to call her. But if you have an omniscient narrator, you might actually want to take a different tactic altogether. You could call her Bianca in some cases where she's doing her porn scenes, then switch to Hannah when she's not doing porn shoots as a way to showcase her different personalities. Even if the MC wouldn't think of her that way, the narrator has a different POV from the MC, and different considerations come into play when deciding what to call her.

 

[Stanfield2025]

I'm no expert, but I have done this sort of "two names" dynamic before. I'd personally have the main character know her by her real name. But that's because I personally like the idea of the protagonist knowing the love interest by their "pure" self.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Characters with alternating identities can work if the clarity and consistency are present throughout the story. I have done this several times.

The only times when character identity seems to fly over the heads of readers, at least in my experience, is in the Loving Wives category. I've seen this with my stories as well as those by other writers.

I'll leave it for others to postulate on why that is.