forum Talking about a character whom your POV character does not know by name yet

Started November 17, 2019 by @Becfromthedead group

tune

So I know the character's name already. I don't need a placeholder for me. I need a placeholder for my protagonist, who hasn't been properly introduced yet, you know, besides just calling him "the man." However, they are in a full scene together before learning names. I did a bit of research and read somewhere that it's often good to take a characteristic of theirs that is prominent and give them a nickname based on that. I've settled on the nickname "Ink" for now, in reference to how heavily tattooed the guy is, but if I'm being honest, I hate this convention. While I'm aware that some other people nickname people in their heads if they don't know their real name, it's just a weird concept to me. Anyone got advice?

Can I possibly see the convo you're having problems with? Maybe I can give you ideas, but I feel like I need to see it to give relevant advice… (It's totally fine if you're not comfortable with that)
Also, I'm one of those people who will nickname people I don't know.

Yeah, idk if this is the best example from the passage but I'm extremely shy about my writing and this is all I feel okay sharing for now:
“Hey, hey… Can you hear me?”
The man slowly nodded. He tried to say something, but just shrunk down in a series of coughs. He turned on his side and coughed up something tinged black in color.
Aurelius bit down on his lip as he looked him up and down. The burns were bad enough, but he also had what looked like a sword slash across his chest, as well as various cuts and bruises everywhere. Perhaps it looked worse than it was, as he had tattoos all over his body, and it was hard to tell what portions of skin were actually intact. There was just ink everywhere. Just Ink…
Fiera too was on her knees next to him. She helped him roll on his side to keep him from potentially choking.
(…little skip of some dialogue here so you don't have to read more that doesn't give you an idea of what I'm talking about…)
Moreau, Septima, and Fiera all worked to carry him to the rocky shore where they helped him sit up.
Aurelius pulled out his waterskin and held it near Ink’s lips. He took a few ravenous sips, gasping a bit between each gulp of water. After he finished, he started coughing again, but sitting upright, it wasn’t quite as bad as before. Aurelius took a scrap piece of cloth from his bag, wet it in the creek, and started dabbing his forehead and neck to cool him off.
(Also for additional context, it's 3rd person limited to Aurelius during this chapter)

Okay, just reading that snippet, Ink seems like a good way to refer to that character, if there's also any distinguishing features, other than just the tattoos, you could use that as a reference.

Okay, thank you! I think that's the #1 most distinguishing feature (as he is absolutely covered), so it's likely the thing someone would notice first.

Yeah, so me seeing him, probably nicknaming him something along the lines of ink, would be likely.
(An example of me randomly nicknaming people would be me in grade nine first starting school. THere's this one girl, (Who's now a friend of mine) who had rainbow hair, and got nicknamed rainbow hair until I learned her name.)

Other example: my roommate saw a really cute girl but didn't know her name. She had a distinctively long face, so she said she called this girl "horseface" in her head, but not in a mean way lol. So I'm well aware that other people do it, I just have a hard time generating them myself because it's not a natural train of thought for me, I guess.

I figured that was the case, (Is it weird that it makes sense to me that that wouldn't be a thing for you?)

Not really, it's just weird trying to replicate it when you know it's something a lot of people do but you don't. For me it was mainly the question of: does this sound natural?

Well, I say it sounds natural, mostly because it sounds exactly like what I would do, (Also I want to read more of your story.)

Yes, that's the kind of perspective I was hoping to get, so thank you! And maybe? I'd be more comfortable over PM for sure. I'm also at 33K words of a rough draft, so it's kind of a lot and also, well, rough.

That's really good!! I'd be happy to read through it!

Thanks! I'll consider it. Though I'd probably just give a little at a time as I'm comfortable, because as I said, I'm really shy about my stories. You've definitely got a taste of some of my characters through RP at least, though.

Yeah, but I always find it even more interesting piecing my character tgether through RP and my writing, so it'll be interesting if you ever do decide to share any with me.
(I can also share some with you if you want? I have a 60 page draft that I'm working on solely for Arthur's story…)

Ooh, fun. I'd definitely be interested in exchanging stories sometime.
And yeah, RP is a great way to piece together characters. I even have one case where I made up a character for an RP and he ended up so fleshed out, and I loved him so much that he became part of my story, which has a completely different setting.

NICE! Yeah, honestly I just find that my characters personalities are never clear in my writing until after I've RP'd with them.

Yeah, it definitely helps the process.

Hence why I love it so much.

Would you like me to go ahead and send you my first chapter? I feel pretty good about it, with the exception of a few edits that need to be made later.

Sure! Did you want any feedback on it or just reader's excitement?

More the latter, but if you see anything glaringly obvious, I don't mind constructive criticism here and there. I mostly write for myself and don't plan to publish, so editing isn't something I do a ton of.

Cool, After I read through yours, I'll trade you a piece of mine, (On which I appreciate any and all harsh criticism because I plan on publishing someday far off in the future.)

Okay, cool! I'll critique where I can (but I also tend to be nice but honest, so don't worry about me brutalizing anything lol).