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?
This is tangential to what you asked, but if the double-names thing is confusing to beta readers (when you get there), you could consider writing in 1st person. That, or use one name consistently in narration, but have other characters address that character differently. I do find it confusing when authors switch names in narration, but I think as long as the narration is consistent, the reader can fill it in.
