I’m working on editing the first draft of my debut novel, and I have a huge problem — my antagonist goes by two different names (on purpose, she’s going by an alias to prevent discovery of her true allegiance) for a significant portion of the novel. My editing software is confused and wants to treat her alias as a separate character, and now I’m worried I haven’t been clear enough that this is one person going by two names. I asked elsewhere and was told this isn’t an issue until I’m in the beta reading stage and a beta brings it up.
Any suggestions? Am I worried over nothing?
Hey Erin. Great question. I think you’re probably worried over nothing.
This is an instance where your software isn’t very good at its job. So if that’s the source of your anxiety, disregard it.
I bet you have friends in real life who go by more than one name. A teacher, for instance, will go by Mr. Whatever in the classroom, but just by their first name or a nickname with their friends. How do you know it’s the same person?
Think through those kind of scenarios and then make sure you have similar clues present in the story. But again, don’t let your software spook you. 🙂
I’m glad it was helpful!
Great analogy that helps put my mind at ease. Thanks, Brad. This is probably one of the most helpful answers I’ve gotten on this issue. I asked in a group geared toward users of the software, and instead of being helpful, they told me that I should ask my betas, when I made clear I haven’t shown it to anyone yet.