Feature - Writing Tips: Epithets Redux

[chomiji]

A fair number of you are probably thinking "Huh? FG is going to tell us about calling people names?" In fact, we're going to do exactly that!

However, we don't mean "hurling epithets," as Ichigo and Renji are doing here:

"You jerk!" shouted Ichigo. "Whose idea was this, anyway?"

"Yours, you idiot," growled Renji.

This is actually a secondary

Comments

[i_speak_tongue]

Same here! It seems to be more common on FFnet, not surprisingly!

[chomiji]

I think it's a common novice writer's issue. A habit like that can be hard to break if no one ever suggests there's anything wrong with it!

[semisweetsoul]

I agree! It's so annoying especially in certain fandoms when they refer to characters by their occupation or their nationality when they're doing things that have nothing to do with them being a scientist or a Canadian. It drives me nuts! I've been know to yell at newspapers' articles because of that very reason. What is wrong with names and personal pronouns?

[chomiji]

I'm guessing that many novice writers truly believe that it's wrong or at least inelegant to repeat the characters' names. Slash scenes (m/m or f/f) seem especially fertile ground for terrible use of epithets, probably because the authors start worrying that it's not clear who is doing what to whom!

[chomiji]

Well, I'm definitely standing on the shoulders of giants, here. Not only was green_grrl's original article very clear, but I think it was rachelmanija from whom I first heard the idea that the names become part of the background, so one shouldn't be afraid to use them.

I'm glad you liked the article!