My protagonist is using a different name at the beginning of the book, but changes half-way through. How should I write the dialogue tags?

Question

My protagonist is living under a curse, with added amnesia, making her have a false name. Halfway through the book, she learns what her real name is and chooses to become that person again, with all the things it means as well. After this, when writing the dialogue tags - to show who has spoken - should I use the false name or her real one that she learns?

Answer 1

Imagine such a revelation taking place in your life: your birth name is not the one you have been bearing all this time.

One can only imagine that such an event would not pass unnoticed. Your readers deserve that. When you present the revelation, dwell on it for as long as reasonably possible. Make your character ruminate on the implications, make her uncertain of the consequences, make her question her entire life. Make the reader feel the ground shaking, make them feel the confusion, the betrayal (?), the anger, the joy perhaps. Make it a central focus of that part of your text. When you are done with presenting this fact, the readers should be familiar with both names, and should have no issues knowing that they refer to the same person.

You can now switch to the chosen name in all your dialogue tags. You could even alternate from time to time, just as your character:

1. has regrets about her hasty choice
2. did not lose the habit of calling herself one way rather than the other way
3. prefers to keep one name when talking to certain people

Answer 2

Simply, all the dialog tags, and other references, should refer to any character as the point of view character thinks of them.

Consequently, to start using the character's new name is to indicate that the point of view character thinks of this character by the new name. If the point of view character is the protagonist, that's when the protagonist really shifts.

You can probably make the transition more smooth than it would be in real life.

Answer 3

Okay. I know a friend of mine (well, a friend's brother, who also happens to be a friend) who had a name change semi-recently. It is naturally very hard to remember, and we all screwed it up tons of times. Now it's easier, but I still sometimes slip up!

Another great example is Tricia (Trillian) McMillan from the Hitchhiker's Guide series. Arthur is commonly seen slipping up her name in the first book, and even more so in the movie.

So you should add that in a bunch. Characters forgetting the name change, calling her by her old name, etc. Of course, the longer they know her by the new name, they'll say it right more.