| Author |
Message |
    
Pacwriter
Unity Member
Post Number:
2113
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 11:31 am: |   |
How many times on a page is it acceptable to have the main character's name?
http://www.perrycomer.com
|
Fred Dungan
Unity Member
Post Number:
1254
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 01:07 pm: | |
In chick flicks, the Clark Gable type sensually emotes, "Judy, Judy, Judy. If 3 times works for Clark and your main character is 5 times the woman that Judy was, then you could probably get away with dialogue in which her lover verbally caresses her name 15 times in a row. However, if you are not writing something on the order of The French Lieutenant's Woman, I don't suggest trying it.
Classic Russian novelists don't make as much use of pronouns as English writers. It is not unusual for a character's name to appear multiple times in a sentence and in almost any given sentence on a page. If Dostoevsky and Tolstoy could do it, I don't see why you can't. In fact, since Russian names tend to be longer and more confusing than English names, you have even more reason to be doing it.
I find that American authors rely far too much on pronouns. If an entire page is filled with he and she (assuming your manuscript has more than one character), it might not be clear as to which he or she you are making reference to. Better to be on the safe side and go with using the character's name as many times as it takes to make the identity clear and avoid confusion.
http://www.fdungan.com/vigilantes.htm |
Scott F. Falkner
Hunger Member
Post Number:
87
Registered: 08-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 02:42 am: | |
"How many times on a page is it acceptable to have the main character's name?"
As many as you want, as long as it's not annoying. (The number of times, not the name... scratch that, don't make the name annoying either.)
Scott F. Falkner
http://www.scottfalkner.com
http://thedailycave.blogspot.com |
Olen Armstrong
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
383
Registered: 06-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 10:59 am: | |
I fall back to what a college teacher suggested once a long time ago.
Sit facing a corner, so both ears hear the same thing clearly bounced back at them.
Read it out loud to yourself. See how it sounds.
In agreement with Mr. Falkner, if it sounds annoying, then it's too much. If it doesn't, it isn't.
Write the story as if you're telling the story to a rapt audience. Then trust your own judgement.
Later,
Olen A |
|
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page