When you are writing a story and refer to a character by a physical trait, occupation, age, or any other attribute, rather than that character’s name, you are bringing the reader’s attention to that particular attribute. That can be used quite effectively to help your reader to focus on key details with just a few words. However, if the fact that the character is “the blond,” “the magician,” “the older woman,” etc. is not relevant to that moment in the story, this will only distract the reader from the purpose of the scene.
If your only reason for referring to a character this way is to avoid using his or her name or a pronoun too much, don’t do it. You’re fixing a problem that actually isn’t one. Just go ahead and use the name or pronoun again. It’ll be good.
Using names or pronouns too much is a NON-PROBLEM – these words are “invisible” to readers. (I mean, you don’t worry about using the word “the” too much, do you?)
I have known many people who will hit the back button if a fic uses too many epithets. On the other hand, I’ve never heard anyone complain, “This author doesn’t refer to the characters by their occupation or hair color NEARLY enough!”
Just say “No” to epithets, kids.
Some advice for the writers in our fandom…
THIS.
THIS.
*SMASHES REBLOG BUTTON*
Seriously like. Overusing random attributes in writing pops off the page at me as much as BAD ADVERBS. I understand the temptation, especially when you’re writing same-sex situations and you need to keep distinguishing who’s who and whose limbs are whose when the pronouns alone can’t, but honestly like, it gets really cheesy really fast and it’s worth combing back over afterwards. Saying the person’s name 1000 times is less obnoxious, in my opinion!
Be careful! Slow down and work over it when you’re done to make sure you don’t do it too much! It’s so uncomfortable to read!
can someone explain the alignment chart for me but in like, the simplest wording possible lmao
lawful good: i want to do the right thing, and following society’s rules is the best way to do that
neutral good: i want to do what’s right, and i’m willing to bend or break the rules as long as no one gets hurt
chaotic good: i’m willing to do whatever it takes as long as it’s to do the right thing
lawful neutral: following the rules of society is the most important thing, and that matters more to me than doing what’s right
true neutral: i just want myself and the people i care about to be happy
chaotic neutral: i want my freedom, and i don’t care what i have to do to keep it
lawful evil: to impede the protagonists (in whatever evil way) is my primary goal, but i follow my own code of morals even when it’s inconvenient
neutral evil: to impede the protagonists (in whatever evil way) is the my primary goal, and while i’ll do what it takes to achieve it, i also won’t go out of my way to do unnecessary damage
chaotic evil: i relish in destruction and want to do as much damage as possible while i try to achieve my primary goal
Here is a handy visual guide I made a while back. Part of my intention was to show the variety of ways that each of the alignments can be represented:
You can see/reblog my original posts here, here, and here.
I-want-my-IWTV 