The style can work. In this case it largely doesn't, mostly because the writer insists in trying to be cute about "Tim". Tim is a sockpuppet for the author, lik

The style can work. In this case it largely doesn't, mostly because the writer insists in trying to be cute about "Tim". Tim is a sockpuppet for the author, like Socrates in Plato's works. After the first couple of paragraphs, there is no point pretending he is anything but that. Trying to flesh him out, over and over through the text, is a waste of everyone's time.