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what the hell kind of name is benton
Okay, BURNING QUESTION TIME, because I'm trying to write Fraser POV things and I keep tripping over and second-guessing the damn pronouns. When in doubt, consult the internet!
Me personally, 'Fraser' is invisible to me when I read it but I kind of feel weird having the guy refer to himself by his last name inside his own head when I'm writing him. My default is 'Benton' because I assume that's the name he uses in his head, and at this point when I read it, it also comes up invisible. I actually hate 'Ben' except in exceptional circumstances ie when the narrative starts when he's a child, because plenty of old friends call him Ben without it making me twitch. ('Benny' is not even an option, although if you're writing Vecchio-POV I find it mad charming.) The problem is that this makes sense to me but I imagine that 'Benton' is not invisible to other people and possibly even annoying, and having some raw numbers might be nice.
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When reading a Fraser POV story, I like/don't mind him referring to himself as
When reading a Fraser POV story, I will allow, under certain circumstances and depending on the skill of the writer, him referring to himself as
When reading a Fraser POV story, I really don't like him referring to himself as
Me personally, 'Fraser' is invisible to me when I read it but I kind of feel weird having the guy refer to himself by his last name inside his own head when I'm writing him. My default is 'Benton' because I assume that's the name he uses in his head, and at this point when I read it, it also comes up invisible. I actually hate 'Ben' except in exceptional circumstances ie when the narrative starts when he's a child, because plenty of old friends call him Ben without it making me twitch. ('Benny' is not even an option, although if you're writing Vecchio-POV I find it mad charming.) The problem is that this makes sense to me but I imagine that 'Benton' is not invisible to other people and possibly even annoying, and having some raw numbers might be nice.
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Besides, none of us actually refer to ourselves by name in our heads, do we? I mean, I think of myself as "I", not "Elin" (or "Luzula" for that matter, heh). Of course, if I had to do it I'd choose my first name, not my last.
I usually use "Benton" in stories set when he's young, though. One of my WIPs is about his time at Depot and just after, and I think that's where people started calling him "Fraser". I might experiment with switching to "Fraser" at some point in that story, to show how he's being socialized into the Mountie role. Not sure about that yet, though.
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At least now I know that 'Ben' is unanimously right out except in very specific circumstances. Heh.