Reader Question: How do you handle one character with different names?

Via Twitter:

I’ve never encountered this situation in any of the stories I’ve written, but I have with other writers and their scripts. There’s no rule about this, but your concern is duly noted: You do not want to confuse a reader. And thinking long term, you don’t want to confuse actors who could read for a role in your movie nor the production team.

First, you need to be clear: Is this a story about one character who doesn’t change, but is called by other names in other universes — for whatever reason? Or is this a story about a character who does shapeshift into multiple iterations of him/herself? The answer to the question might be different.

Re the latter, if the character is substantively different from universe to universe, then I would think you’d have to use whatever name the character is known by in that universe. To track this, I consulted the mother of all versions of this conceit, the script for Cloud Atlas, and, indeed, the characters played by Tom Hanks — Dr. Henry Goose / Hotel Manager / Isaac Sachs / Dermot Hoggins / Cavendish Look-a-Like Actor / Zachry — are called by their names in their respective universes. So, too, with the Halle Berry characters — Native Woman / Jocasta Ayrs / Luisa Rey / Indian Party Guest / Ovid / Meronym. And all the other characters played by actors with alternate iterations of their soulful self.

While that may be confusing to a reader, I think you have to go this route because to give them one name is inauthentic because in reality, in Universe A, they are known by X, in Universe B, they are known by Y. They themselves experience reality in each universe by that name.

However that doesn’t sound like your story setup. If I understand correctly, Kelley, you have one character who bounces between universes, yet he is known by different names in each universe. The key point is he is the same character, he doesn’t actually change.

If that’s right, then I would recommend you give him his proper name, and refer to him as that throughout. Others will call him by his alternate names in different universes, but this way, (A) it’s less confusing for a reader as the character’s name remains the same and (B) this is an accurate reflection of the character’s reality. If his name is John, then no matter what anyone calls him in Universe C, Universe D, Universe E and so on, he still experiences reality as John.

Again that’s assuming I’ve got the sense of your story setup right.

By the way, for those of you who were confused by Cloud Atlas, here’s a helpful infographic:

Actually that’s not helpful at all, is it? Unlike a lot of people, I really enjoyed the movie. Watched it with my family and we all managed to track the plot. How about you?

And re Kelley’s question, if anyone has a differing opinion or an alternate way of handling the issue, please weigh in in comments. I will be appearing there to join the conversation using my name from a parallel universe I sometimes visit: Skooleybabenah.

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