The forgetful reader

Like all of you, I am both a reader and an author. While reading a longer piece, I noticed something that concerned me as an author. I frequently forget some characters name or his position and have to skip back a page or two. Only natural, right? But here comes the question:

How often should one repeat the full name and position of a character? How long does it take for the reader to know your characters by name? How long until he has internalized the background and the rules of the world I am describing? Are there any guidelines or wisdom from more experienced writers I could draw on?

Satan_Klaus

I would say it depends on the character. A stong, primary character should stick with the reader immediately, IMO. Some secondary characters may need a little 'oomph' to make them memorable. I have found myself giving a secondary character a subtle but unusual quirk upon introduction for that very reason. Obviously, that's only necessary if the character comes up in the story later.

Quirking characters could help the reader remember. It makes the character stand out of the crowd. But in my experience the reader even has trouble with main characters in longer pieces.

What about a situation of "Alicia, Bianca and Carla walked into a room..."? The reader should (by now) know all of them, and he does. But who is who? He has probably forgotten. Is there something I could do about it or do I just need to repeat each persons position or relation to others as unobstrusively as possible when they reappear at the beginning of a new chapter?

Satan_Klaus

Good question, Santa Klaus (cute name too). :)

I agree with Playfulsub that it depends on the character. And, of course how many characters you have and how and when they are introduced. I guess knowing how to do that is one of the talents that separate the good authors from the not so good authors.

The quicker you are able to establish a character’s personality the easier they will be to remember.

I think too that if you can plant a picture in the reader’s head it’s often easier to remember them--that is, a little bit of physical description.

What makes you think the reader has forgotten who is who? I tend to give the reader the benefit of the doubt, more often that not. Respect their intelligence, and the ability to know your characters; most readers can handle that. I tend to think re-stating the character's position, no matter how subtly, will insult the reader's intelligence. If it's a good, necessary character, she/he won't be forgotten.

These are, for all intents and purposes, short stories. Perhaps you/they are putting too much effort in describing secondary characters... a task better left to the reader's imagination.

I'd suggest just elaborating on the main character, that's the one you really care about... Let the reader fill in the blanks with the bulk of the rest... and that way, there is only one character they really have to remember.

"George was impressive at first sight" says volumes and allows each reader to create their own impressive visage.

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Originally Posted by Playfulsub

What makes you think the reader has forgotten who is who? I tend to give the reader the benefit of the doubt, more often that not. Respect their intelligence, and the ability to know your characters; most readers can handle that.

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I based my asumption primarily on my own experience as a reader. So I'm not insulting anybody but myself.

But I even had a case were one of my editors mixed up the names of the characters. (She remembered their positions but mixed up the names.) So it's not just me who has Alzheimer's disease.

Satan_Klaus

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Originally Posted by Ozme52

These are, for all intents and purposes, short stories.

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In all my posts I referred to longer pieces, not short stories. In a short story you should not have enough characters to get the reader confused.

Satan_Klaus

One thing the writer can do to help is give the characters distinct (and memorable) names. I know I'm guilty of not following that rule. I tend to alliterate first names by gender, A very bad quirk to get into but fortunately most word processors can fix it with the 'find and replace' function. So if your story has a Brian,Bruce and Brad chasing after Jean, Janice and Josephine consider a quick revision.

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Originally Posted by Mad Lews

One thing the writer can do to help is give the characters distinct (and memorable) names.

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Powerful names are of course good but I'm always afraid of getting tacky. Finding the right amount of 'distinct and memorable is difficult.

A Mr. Masters, while impossible to forget, might have his place in some stories, in others he is just ridiculous.

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Originally Posted by Satan_Klaus

In all my posts I referred to longer pieces, not short stories. In a short story you should not have enough characters to get the reader confused.

Satan_Klaus

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You missed my point... but that said...

Which stories are you talking about? Hardly any I've seen on the library that would qualify as novella length.

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Originally Posted by Ozme52

Which stories are you talking about? Hardly any I've seen on the library that would qualify as novella length.

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There are at least some that are novella lenght like "the jade pavillon".

And I was asking for advice not referring to any specific story. I'm currently writing what would qualify as a novella. I'm on page 50 right now and if I ever get it finished it will be well over a hundred pages. You can't do with just one 'main' character in a piece that long. In addition, the characters will not all be present in every chapter. You have to make the reader remember them so he will know them when they reappear.

Satan_Klaus

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Originally Posted by Satan_Klaus

There are at least some that are novella lenght like "the jade pavillon".

And I was asking for advice not referring to any specific story. I'm currently writing what would qualify as a novella. I'm on page 50 right now and if I ever get it finished it will be well over a hundred pages. You can't do with just one 'main' character in a piece that long. In addition, the characters will not all be present in every chapter. You have to make the reader remember them so he will know them when they reappear.

Satan_Klaus

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I guess I'm having a hard time understanding because I don't relate to it. I've never had a hard time remembering characters. And if I get confused about who's who, it usually takes just reading the next line or two to remember who it is. Unless your 100 page novella will have an unusually large number of characters, I don't really believe it will be as much of a problem as you're thinking it will be.

Hi Satan_Klaus,

Some great suggestions have been raised here and are quite valuable for longer works. There are a great many stories here on the library that are easily novel length. Here's a quick summary of and a few new suggestions.

* Naming characters with different, but not outrageous names. Yet, it's okay to have a Jane, Jewel, and Jessie, if say they are sisters or something. Parents can be like that.

* Give each character a distinct personality, a clear description and a role.

* If the role isn't important to the story, and/or the character won't be in the story again, less description is fine.

* If a character has been "missing" for a few chapters, when that character "returns" a few subtle phrases will help the reader remember that character. For example,

Taking her sub Nat's hand, Ruby guided him to her favorite with a wicked grin on her face. He nodded his head, yes, as he walked. His long blond hair covered his grey-blue eyes and she laughed with delight. She'd brush that long hair to tease him after he was secured to the chair.

We are reminded that Nat is Ruby's sub and the story goes forward.

* Outrageous names are distracting and can often prevent a novel/novella from selling. Common mistakes are mispelled names, names that are overly cute or descriptive - like your Mr. Masters, or names that are jarring because of their spelling. Think Mr. Mastaars or Mr. Mastters. Spell checks and many editors hate them and Readers often don't identify with them.

Why are so many men named Michael or John? Because they are common names, which are easy to say, spell and remember.

* Names should also be appropriate for the location, period and genre of the story.

Keep up the great work on your "novella", which is rapidly becoming a full length novel.

Ruby

I recently finished reading a story (Ayn Rand's We the Living) which, because of the period and the culture of the environment in which it described, did not shirk on reminding both the reader and the characters of every person's name and rank within the story itself. I think for that kind of piece, it worked very well even though it did get a bit tedious at times for me, as the reader, to wade through it. For that particular world and that particular culture, it made a lot of sense to do so, but I'm guessing that most of the time, it probably is not necessary. I've read plenty of stories in which such rigidity would have seemed overkill, but sometimes it fits the world of the story so well that, if it were absent, one would think something was definitely missing.

I guess what I'm saying is that it depends a lot on the specific story, the period and culture of the story, and the characters you are working with. Heck, I could envision a character who might have a compulsion to call every person by their full name, and thats just who the character is.

In other words, don't worry so much about your reader. Worry about your story, and how you choose to identify your characters within the context of that story will practically work itself out.