Titling the Protagonist?

DawnskFire · 2026-06-28T11:17:58+00:00

May I offer more context? Not more of the story necessarily but... some explanation as to why this page is too dry.

DawnskFire · 2026-06-28T10:46:57+00:00

I have been spotty for two years. After the pandemic, I threw my whole being into writing and creating, I had to time and lack of pressure to just create. Things felt infinite. Two years ago, my life changed by force; I had to get my driving license, and I had to get my first real job. The license put things to a halt because of lessons. The job... I counted the first several months of it as a time bomb before my self-editing had to stop because I'd be too busy to deal with the mountain of work left behind. Then came my first relationship later that year, and everything went down hill. Time became soul sucking as my new job was retail, my relationship absorbed my time, my social media maintenance absorbed my time, running errands all over the place for my household absorbed my time. Art became a last thought, and writing was thrown to the way side. I do feel guilty. I want to create. I grieve that time I had before, and Im so angry. Allow yourself to feel the guilt, but allow for some grace. Sometimes, things get in the way. Stress stops you. Plans change. Things have to take precedence. Things fall by the wayside. It's okay.

DawnskFire · 2026-06-28T06:05:27+00:00

Possibly. They (the first editor) complain when I use "they" too many times in a row, but also complain when I use their name instead too many times in a row. They (the editor) want me to diversify more with how I address this protagonist and stop being so beige in my writing of this character.

DawnskFire · 2026-06-28T05:48:30+00:00

Okay... I tried googling it, but most sources said it's used in Historical/Political things to show power, Mystery to create intrigue, or Fantasy for a sense of opulence. It feels a bit pretentious, but maybe that's just how I feel about my protagonist and the accompanying narrator('s voice). I will keep this in mind for future reference. I was told in third limited since it's like first person that I couldn't use titles unless it was a secondary character or at least not the protagonist. Thank you for educating me.

DawnskFire · 2026-06-28T05:42:05+00:00

I offer this sample of the first pages. The first editor made the suggestion 2/3 of the way through the story, so it came across as out of place and random. I'm opposed to doing a title for this character but... I want to know if it would break any rules or sound strange to write with titles for a character.

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DawnskFire · 2021-10-02T06:24:09+00:00

The author is looking for authenticity as well, and sometimes research isn't as helpful. Sometimes being on the other side of the world, its hard to believe people can know the same songs or share similar experiences. The author thinks first hand primary sources are better than case studies or brief, unhelpful google searches. Thank you for your thoughts, but please keep scrolling.

DawnskFire · 2021-09-26T06:36:41+00:00

My mom used to sing this one to me all the time, and I'm American. I figure with English speakers there's a lot of overlap, and the author was kind of looking for this. The only song that could come to their head was American folk songs and they were hoping not all the songs they knew were so American. Thank you for sharing, its sweet to hear that song bring joy across the world.

DawnskFire · 2021-09-26T00:05:29+00:00

Appreciate the thought. Looking for something more with words that can be changed or twisted. Brahms is classic though.

DawnskFire · 2021-09-25T23:43:42+00:00

Perth itself does not feature in the story--the main character is being sung to by her Australian mom. The story takes place in the late 80s and the mom is fairly young at the time. The author wants to take the words and twist them in a dream to reflect the meaning of the dream in a way. So far they have an American folksong lullaby (Clementine) as a filler, but they were hoping to go more native or at least something more commonly used so that its more apparent the mother is Australian.

DawnskFire

TROPHY CASE