regshoe

Thank you—I'm glad it's so useful for your fic :D

It's given me plenty to think about for my current WIP, as well, since that introduces some complications which I think might take the formality of Keith's thoughts and dialogue back up for a bit after the (AU) end of the book—I'll have to do some editing...

I mean, if Keith addresses Ewen as Ardroy, but the narrative uses Ewen while we are seeing things from Keith's POV (though of course really it's omniscient), that feels a bit strange to me, because in my head, those two should match. Otherwise it feels to me like Keith thinks of him as Ewen, but addresses him as Ardroy. How do you reconcile this in your head?

Yeah, it is a bit odd—it's as if the narration is consistently one level of formality above the dialogue, with Keith thinking of Ewen as 'Ardroy' when he calls him 'Mr Cameron' and then thinking of him as 'Ewen' when he calls him 'Ardroy'! But ultimately I think it makes most sense to consider the narration omniscient, with the changing level of formality meant to reflect the characters' thoughts and feelings rather than directly representing them. Of course the narrator, being omniscient, knows both characters intimately and can call them whatever she likes.

Also, it's very interesting that the Keith narration also uses more formal terms for Keith himself in the beginning of the book! I had missed that entirely.

I had too, and it's such a good bit of characterisation! Doing these language meta posts has been very worthwhile.

I actually use 'Captain Cameron' as a form of address from Keith to Ewen very deliberately in my fic to signal Keith's respect for Ewen, as opposed to the disrespect of some of the other Hanoverian officers, who don't take him seriously as an officer.

Another good characterisation detail! The canon 'Captain Cameron's are all from the Prince, his associates and other Edinburgh characters (I suppose Keith wasn't there to see him be made a captain)—it's very appropriate to have that show Keith's respect for Ewen when they spend more time together :)