It's been difficult finding help writing a story, so I was hoping the people on Dokuga could offer me a hand.

I'm having a bit of trouble with how I reference characters in my story. Let me just throw out an example. For instance, a main character will call her grandmother Gran, but obviously she calls herself by her name, lets say Jane, so when should you use Gran and when should you use Jane when referring to this character? Should I only call her Gran when the main is talking to her? How bout when the main is observing something she's doing like in this sentence: 'Her Gran was shaking with laughter.' Should I substitute her actual name instead?

To give another example, I'm having trouble with this sentence, 'She spotted Jane mouthing 'too much' out of the corner of her eye.' Should I changed that to 'her Gran' because it's the main character observing her?

Generally you'd go with however the character's whose POV you're writing from would address the second character(s). So since a granddaughter wouldn't usually refer to her grandmother by her given name, you'd refer to her by her title (Gran, grandmother, etc).

If you're writing from the grandmother's POV then using her name be appropriate as she wouldn't be likely to refer to herself as "Gran" or "[name]'s grandmother".

Yah I'm not really sure what you're asking for help on. I mean I have an idea what it might be but I'm not really sure. From your example though, I'd have to ask if the Gran was called Jane, or is the grandchild called Jane?

It would also depend on whose perspective that your writing your story from.

Grandkids generally wouldn't call their grandparent by their first name unless it's attached like this they might say 'Granny Jane' or 'Nanny Jane' although that could be different if the grandkid was an adult than they might call each other by their first names.

The only time I've heard a grandparent being called by their first name is by their own siblings, or their parents, aunties, or cousins of their generation and not the younger i.e. their grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

I could imagine an inlaw calling the mother or father of their spouse by their first name, yups that makes sense to me, but a grandkid would just say Grandma, Nan, Nanny, or Granny, or Gran.

If your referring say to Kagome talking to or about her grandfather she'd prolly just refer to him as is, granddad or grandpa, with the more formal 'He's my grandfather' to other people that aren't her relatives, like friends. I doubt that she'd ever use his first name in addressing him. It's just be 'Grandpa' or 'Granddad'. I mean... Kagome's mother might call him by his first name but she might also call him Grandpa or Gramps too. Depends again on whose perspective that your writing your fiction from.

Kagome's Grandpa would call her by her first name, Kagome, since she's his grand-daughter.

~ Pyre

Well, I'm not actually talking about referring to the character directly (like a hey you kind of way), but indirectly, like the main character is watching the other do something. Should I always refer to her as Gran, even when I'm writing something like 'Her Gran cackled and moved over to sit on her unmade bed' or is okay to refer to her directly by name instead (the Gran's name being Jane in this case) like 'JANE cackled and moved over to sit on the unmade bed.'

I should also point out, that it is not being written in first person either so that is why I seem to be stumbling a bit.

Think of it this way, when you notice your own grandmother doing something do you make the observation of:

A.) Grandma's had one eggnog too many!

or

B.) Jane's had one eggnog too many!

Address the character in your story the way you'd answer that question.

Make more sense?

Right so I take it that the main character is the grandchild? Generally if the main character is observing in this case say her 'Grandmother' doing something, indirectly, it would make sense to consistently use just 'Grandmother' or a derivative thereof like this:

'Chelsea saw her Grandmother potting azaleas in the backyard' or 'Chelsea was nervous when her Grandma brought the empty jar of cookies down off the shelf'.

If the main character is the grandchild observing her Grandmother or talking to her directly, that Grandmother would always be referred to as Gran, Granny, or which ever short-form of Grandmother, never by her first name.

The only time a main character would call an older person by their first name is likely if they're not related to them, like a co-worker that's older, an acquaintance, or an inlaw, or the parent of an inlaw.

Generally a grandchild of an older person wouldn't call them by their first name even in third person, or indirectly, that Grandparent would always be referred to as being 'Grandma' or 'Grandpa'.

The Point of View doesn't really matter in terms of reference to a person. The rule fits in second and third person too. A grandchild again would generally not refer to their grandparent by their first name unless its like this 'Granny Jane, Grandma Jane'. Like if you have more than one grandparent in the ficlet, you might identify different grandmothers like Grandma Jane, and Grandma Agnus and so on to individualise them.

But for the main character being a grandchild of an older person, its more appropriate to use Grandma or Granny or whatever your comfortable with. Again only really the brothers or sisters of that Grandparent would call them by their first name. The grandchild won't generally do that directly or indirectly.

~ Pyre

Thank you very much inali and Pyreite!

I feel so much more confident about how to write it and I thank you very much for your helpful suggestions!