How To Add Dimension To Your Story's Theme

Actually

The question I get the most is how I write characters that feel like real people. 

Generally when I’m designing a human being, I deconstruct them into 7 major categories:

1. Primary Drive 2. Fear: Major and Secondary 3. Physical Desires 4. Style of self expression 5. How they express affection 6. What controls them (what they are weak for) 7. What part of them will change.

1. Primary Drive: This is generally related to the plot. What are their plot related goals? How are they pulling the plot forward? how do they make decisions? What do they think they’re doing and how do they justify doing it. 2. Fear: First, what is their deep fear? Abandonment? being consumed by power? etc. Second: tiny fears. Spiders. someone licking their neck. Small things that bother them. At least 4. 3. Physical desires. How they feel about touch. What is their perceived sexual/romantic orientation. Do their physical desires match up with their psychological desires.

4. Style of self expression: How they talk. Are they shy? Do they like to joke around and if so, how? Are they anxious or confident internally and how do they express that externally. What do words mean to them? More or less than actions? Does their socioeconomic background affect the way they present themselves socially?  5. How they express affection: Do they express affection through actions or words. Is expressing affection easy for them or not. How quickly do they open up to someone they like. Does their affection match up with their physical desires. how does the way they show their friends that they love them differ from how they show a potential love interest that they love them. is affection something they struggle with?

6. What controls them (what they are weak for): what are they almost entirely helpless against. What is something that influences them regardless of their own moral code. What– if driven to the end of the wire— would they reject sacrificing. What/who would they cut off their own finger for.  What would they kill for, if pushed. What makes them want to curl up and never go outside again from pain. What makes them sink to their knees from weakness or relief. What would make them weep tears of joy regardless where they were and who they were in front of. 

7. WHAT PART OF THEM WILL CHANGE: people develop over time. At least two of the above six categories will be altered by the storyline–either to an extreme or whittled down to nothing. When a person experiences trauma, their primary fear may change, or how they express affection may change, etc. By the time your book is over, they should have developed. And its important to decide which parts of them will be the ones that slowly get altered so you can work on monitoring it as you write. making it congruent with the plot instead of just a reaction to the plot. 

That’s it.

But most of all, you have to treat this like you’re developing a human being. Not a “character” a living breathing person. When you talk, you use their voice. If you want them to say something and it doesn’t seem like (based on the seven characteristics above) that they would say it, what would they say instead?

If they must do something that’s forced by the plot, that they wouldn’t do based on their seven options, they can still do the thing, but how would they feel internally about doing it?

How do their seven characteristics meet/ meld with someone else’s seven and how will they change each other?

Once you can come up with all the answers to all of these questions, you begin to know your character like you’d know one of your friends. When you can place them in any AU and know how they would react.

They start to breathe.

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My Personal Character Files: The 6 Box Method

This is for my science fiction WIP, so some things may need to be added/modified depending on your genre. I will also include a screenshot of an example at the bottom so y’all can see how I set it up in my Doc.

1. The Quick Ref

I use this as the first page of my “Character FIles” Doc.

I put all my important characters in a list, then add their height, age, and the page their complete file can be found on. This is helpful when I need to know if a character would have to crane their neck upward to look another character in the eyes. Comes up more than I’d have guessed.

2. The Individual Profile: 6 Box Method

I add and subtract stuff based on how important the character is. Without further ado…

Box One: Reference Photo

This is where I add in any actor, model, drawing, etc that I base the look on. When I don’t need one, sometimes I’ll put in a picture that represents the character’s style.

Box Two: The Introduction

Full Name

Nickname(s) 

Age 

Occupation 

Current home 

Situation: How do they enter this story?

Motivation: What do they want?

Favorite quote/saying

Biggest strength

Biggest issue 

Strongest trait 

Box Three: Behavior

Personality

Habits

Ambition/Short and Long Term Goals

Greatest fear(s)

Phobias

Biggest secret(s) 

Social skills

Interior talents

Box Four: Background

Home moon/planet

Important history

Family

Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Colleagues

Finances

Education

Phys. Health/Mental Health

Religion

Romantic/sexual preference

Interests/Hobbies

Box Five: Appearance & Physicality

Height

Body type

Skin tone/Ethnicity/Species

Facial description

Prominent/distinguishing features

Dress 

Mannerisms

Physical talents

Box Six: Speech

Normal tone

Language & accent

Favorite phrases

3. The Example

Rey from The Force Awakens. Made in Google Docs.

Boxes 1 and 2

Boxes 3 and 4

Boxes 5 and 6

Best of luck on your writing journey!

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WIP: The Hunters

Genre: Futuristic Sci-fi

Themes: Good vs Evil, Right vs. Wrong, Abuse of power, Corrupt government, Guilt, Revenge

Synopsis: At the edge of the universe all hell is about to break loose. Victor Romanov, the man responsible for The Attacks, has escaped maximum security prison and is out for revenge. Captain William Marlow and his team of bounty hunters plan to bring him in and collect their biggest award yet. However, Marlow’s past catches up to him in the form of Eve, a defective AI, and he soon begins to question who the real villain is. Maybe Victor Romanov should get his revenge.

Excerpt: Before him kneeled a young woman. Her big blue wondrous eyes were skyward. It annoyed him that she wasn’t focused on the gun in his hand that was pointed at her face. It angered him that he was annoyed. But above all else this was not the face his gun should be pointed at. But he had orders. And the law came before everything else. Order before everything. And yet this felt… wrong. Sweat rolled down his temple. Don’t pull the trigger. He screamed inside himself. His body didn’t listen. He squeezed the trigger. Before the body could hit the floor Marlow woke up.

Eve was sitting on his bed looking down on him with those big blue eyes. “What is this noise?” she asked over the music which was still playing. Marlow sighed “They call it music if you can believe.” He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Oh, I don’t like it.” She stated matter of factly. “Music off” he commanded and the ship obeyed. Now in silence, Marlow sat up and found his face mere inches away from Eve’s. This close he could smell her. She smelled warm with an underlying sweetness. She lean forward, her sweetness was a little overwhelming and brought unease to his stomach. That’s when it dawned on him that he was only wearing boxer shorts and nothing else. He pulled the covers closer and leaned away from her. Her eyes searched his face. He wondered what she was looking for. He wondered if she would find it. He tried to remember what her kind were capable of. All of the destruction he witnessed. But being face to face with her… well he was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the idea of her being capable of any kind of carnage. But that’s the point isn’t it? Look non threatening then rip their throat out. He resisted the urge to cover his throat. “You talk in your sleep.” was all she said. He realized that he was holding his breath. “Did I say anything interesting?”

“You said no a lot. No to what?”

He swallowed hard. How the hell was he supposed to deal with this. His eyes landed on the mark on her face. This time he didn’t hesitate. He brought his hand up and cupped her cheek running his thumb over the black cross. To his surprise she leaned into his touch. “Do you remember Aquaria?” he asked. She answered with barely a whisper. “Yes.” Just then the door hissed open and Marlow jerked his hand away. Doc stepped in. “We’re … uh almost there.” He said as his eyes bounced back and forth between Marlow and Eve. Doc, now blushing, turned and left. Marlow scooted around Eve and got out of bed. “Where are we going” Marlow pulled on his black pants and buckled his belt. “Hiemal” he answered as he strapped on his thigh holster. “It’s a hellhole filled with bad people.” He pulled on an old grey Henley. Then he grabbed his boots and sat down next to Eve. He began lacing up his boots. “If we go there does that make us bad people?”

“Depends on who you ask”

“Well I don’t think you’re bad.”

Marlow straightened up and chuckled. “Thank you” He noticed she wasn’t wearing her shoes and saw an opportunity to get rid of her. “Now go put on your shoes and meet up in the control room.” She hopped off the bed and left the room. The tension Marlow didn’t realize he was holding left him. He run his hand through his buzzcut. What the hell just happened? Marlow had seen a lot and been through a lot but this was taking the cake as the weirdest. He grabbed his gun from underneath his pillow, checked that it was loaded, and holstered it. He pulled on his coat and left his room.

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"But my Plot isn’t UNIQUE or BIG enough!”

One thing that I worry about is that my plot isn’t good enough. I know lots of other writers who have had this issue in the past as well, and it’s all about having confidence in yourself and your ability to tell a tale. 

The plot doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, just think of how many people get fed up of Shyamalan twist-endings. They’re clever sometimes, yes, but they’re also not what everyone ever is looking for, and when they are forced into a piece of work it is painfully obvious to anyone who really values what you’ve written. 

What matters is the telling of the story. Your plot can be exceptionally simple, and you might write one of the most compelling books of our era. 

I found one thing that helped was to look at other works, and try and break them down into their very, very simplistic terms - the bare bones, the things the author would have decided up front perhaps. The things that… if told without the wonder of the story, might have been boring. 

Like A Song of Ice and Fire, for example, which tells the stories of Political struggle against a backdrop of Ice creatures who can raise the dead and force them to attack you. It’s basically a Socio-Political zombie apocalypse, with dragons. That could have gone either way; as it was, it went amazingly. Because Martin is a master of making every character a person, and building such a rich, colourful world that we believe it. 

So, what I’ve done is looked at a very popular work that spans multiple books. Harry Potter is widely known, so this should be useful to as many people as possible. It is also praised as one of the most in depth and atmospheric works for children, young people, adults, or just about anyone, having been translated, adapted and studied over and over. 

                           HARRY POTTER BREAKDOWN

Bread and Butter

So, when I asked Google what the heck the plot of Harry Potter was, I got this;

This is what I’m going to call the BREAD AND BUTTER of the story. It’s what happens in the day-to-day of the story. It’s perhaps the introduction J. K. would have given when first sending in her manuscript. It’s also a hugely unoriginal idea. 

The concept of a young Witch or Wizard attending a magical school where they can learn their abilities has been done before, a lot. It is basically the prmise of books like EarthSea and the Worst Witch. 

So next time you think your premise is overdone or uninspired, remember that it doesn’t matter. It’s not the premise that counts, it’s what you do with it. What Rowling did with it was create an in-depth world, full of structures and rules, populated by characters we all loved, hated, felt sorry for or routed for. She also made sure to include a way for us to learn more about the world, so she made her protagonist just as unaware of the wonder and horror as all of us. 

Tea

In this case, tea is gonna’ be the conflict of the story. The main arc. Because going to a Wizard School is freaking awesome and everything, but this story needs risk. Our characters need to be in danger, and they need something to overcome. Often writers get stuck here. They have a wonderful setting and they really want to write about their character doing this or that, but what’s the main goal? What is there to overcome? 

Very simply, Rowling’s villain is a man who wishes to purify the progression of magic by weeding out those who’s blood he see’s as tainted. He is a Hitler-figure, who himself should be ‘tainted’ in his own view. That’s the villain’s GOAL. It’s clear, and simple. 

If you think your villains goal is too simple, just look at Voldemort’s goal. What makes it more complex are the many twists and turns he and Harry both have to adapt too. His many failures, as well. 

Voldemort fits into many tropes, including the bad guy ‘selling his soul’ to achieve a vain goal, the bad guy murdering the heroes’ parents, the ‘more like you than you think’ trope, where a Villain and a hero are quite similar. I especailly like that last one, because J. K. played with it. Yes, she included it, and yes she gave a magical reason as to why. 

That just shows that unique elements can be added on to overdone ideas, to make them wonderful. 

Jam and Cream

This is where Rowling turns her simple ideas into something beautiful. Whether an idea is original or not, it will not matter if the depth is not there. Jam and Cream stands for all the little things. 

The fact one of the most hated antagonists was only a prime player in one book but left such an impression, the fact Hermione was disliked by the main characters at first, the fact Neville was the cowardly laughing stock of the group for years. Let’s see… The fact Sybil was right about almost all of her predictions and no one believed her, thus linking her with the Mythological figure Cassandra. 

The use of diversion and tension in The Prisoner of Azkaban, the fact that Harry’s own father was rather arrogant and mean at times, yet still a good person. The moral ambiguity of characters like Dumbledore or Snape. 

And…

That isn’t even naming the things the books got wrong. Because every author makes mistakes. Yes! You’re allowed too! J. K. has Dumbledore play the ‘I’m going to withhold information from you for the sake of the plot,’ card. We are also supposed to believe Harry forgave everything Snape ever did and named his son after him because he rather fancied his mother. Many issues are left unaddressed, such as the disinterest/damn right rudeness towards Hagrid in the final years, or the silly quest over the fake Sword. 

But in the end, if the story is told masterfully, no one is going to care. 

Basically, what I’m trying to say is, if you plot is overdone, don’t worry about it. If your world feels familiar, do more to make it your own. If your villain feels like a trope, give them more twists and turns, and maybe a reason for the trope that fits your world alone. If your characters feel stale, give them more scenes that address their personality. 

You’re doing fine, and your manuscript is totally fine. If you believe in it, there’s gonna’ be at least a hundred more people who would too. 

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I already love him

Character Intro: Zach “Zamsel” Amsel

Neutral Good // INFP // Ravenclaw // Aquarius // Bi // Jewish-American // Playlist // Pinterest

If there’s a character who I would award with the “Most Relatable” award, it’s Zamsel. He’s been through a lot. A hopeful romantic with a competitive streak and a massive fear of failure, Zamsel puts a lot of pressure on himself. 

Backstory

Zamsel’s grown up being mostly raised by his mother, as his father has spent a lot of Zamsel’s childhood in the Air Force. Mama Amsel is a sweet, understated woman who passed a lot of her softness onto Zamsel. 

Halfway through high school, Zamsel began dating his long-term girlfriend, Chai Watson. Though their relationship was initially happy, it’s deteriorated into something really toxic and draining. Nevertheless, he graduated as co-valedictorian with Kam Suzuki.

Present

Zamsel’s entering his first year of college with Kam. They’re both sort of adjusting to the freedom that comes with living several states from their families, but Zamsel is adjusting to it far better than Kam is. He’s a fan of his new life.

Playlist

Zamsel’s playlist is huge. It’s full of jams from New Medicine and The Front Bottoms, which I use to more or less build up his aesthetic and general mood.

Twin Size Mattress - The Front Bottoms

Heart With Your Name On It - New Medicine

Boy Like Me - New Medicine

Bad At Love - Halsey

Flannel - The Cardboard Swords

Called You Twice (feat. K.Flay) - FIDLAR, K.Flay

Peaches (Text Voter XX to 40649) - grandson, K.Flay

Self Esteem - The Offspring

Excerpt

Zach closes his eyes. His face is wet from crying, raw from rubbing at it, red all over. Even then, even after what’s happened, he still looks almost beautiful. There’s something about the lighting in an art museum that makes everything look like art, even raw emotion. It rounds out the patheticness of breaking down in public into something artful. Zach doesn’t look anything like a model, but he does look like art.

Aesthetic

Lying on the ground when you’re overwhelmed with emotions, mumbling the lyrics to your favorite songs under your breath to the radio, duct taping all your things together because you don’t want to buy something new, buying new sweaters from Goodwill, when a cat lays on your chest,  wearing sweaters that are too big so you can ball your hands in the fabric, people with small voices, leaning your head on someone’s shoulder while you’re talking, the feeling of slowly falling in love.

Taglist

@aelenko​, @keen2meecha​, @magic-is-something-we-create​, @emdrabbles​, & @yourwriters​

(You can always ask to be added to or subtracted from the taglist!)

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WriterofthePrompts Ultimate Ask Masterlist

I’ve decided to make a masterlist of asks I’ve done to make them easier to find for you guys (and for myself). I split them into categories as best as I could by genre and topic. Also, some asks have some helpful tips in the notes as well to check out (some are marked but not all) and if you have anything to add that you think would help, feel free to reply or reblog with your addition. I’ll try to keep it updated with future asks.

Now without further ado, the strangest and most wonderful list I’ve ever made.

World Building

Urban fantasy prompts/creating urban fantasy world (also linked under fantasy)

Links to help with world building

Creating a pantheon of gods

Things to research when writing a historical novel (also linked under Historical)

Using metaphors in descriptions

Too much world building?

Asking questions to develop a magic system

Wizard school ideas

Why magic would drain from a world

Tips for descriptions

Reasons for civil war

Character Development

Writing confusion in your character

Obstacles to character goals: traveling abroad

Reactions to sadness

Reactions to a devastating event

Showing a character’s anxiety towards something

Showing a character’s secret without revealing it

Reasons a character would die for another

Secrets in a character’s past

Culture shock with loss of rules

Growth of a trainee witch

Characters provoking other characters

Dealing with moving to a completely new place

Why a 19yo would allow a strange boy to live with her

Why a character would want a do-over in life

Showing a character going from good to bad

Possible good messages when the villains aren’t reformed

Kid growing up surrounded only by adults

Quirks for characters

Showing friendship with reserved characters

Introducing an antagonist

Introducing side characters

When you don’t think your character’s backstory fits

Writing Different Types of Characters

Writing antiheroes

The reluctant hero

Writing a violent character afraid of their mind

Making an immoral character likeable

Not a normal girl

Sympathetic villain

Making sure your character isn’t just a flirt

Writing intelligent characters

When your hero isn’t very heroic

Confident characters

Writing an antisocial character

Character Family

Visiting family for the first time

Showing closeness in siblings (opposite twins)

How a joker and a quiet character can become friends

Daughter of a party organizer prompts

Parent jobs where the kid needs to keep up appearances

The mom that left comes back…a vampire

Including character’s parents

Why a character would leave another

Sibling relationships

character with an abusive father (and how to show fear)

Romance

Writing a slow paced love story

love interest vs the ex revamped

Platonic male x female relationships

Random places to get married

Suspense and romance with a “different” male lead

sad relationship prompts

Asexuality and romance

Mutual pining

Romance with large age differences

Childhood friends falling in love

Fluffy unique first kiss

Ways of showing commitment in characters (vampire edition)

Friendship to romance

Small situations for a couple story

fantasy creature and human fluff

characters meeting and falling in love during war

Why best friends might fall in love

Unlikely soulmates prompts

Sci Fi

Using dreams as energy

Time travel prompts (asked for male x female protags)

Time travel: how saving someone can go wrong

Reliving memories

Android characters

Writing humanoids in post apocalypse

Consequences of growing a baby in an artificial womb (theoretical)

The evil AI that characters can’t (shouldn’t) destroy

Girl and guy get trapped in the same body

Rich people in post apocalypse

Discovering you have a doppelgânger

Superheroes

Teenagers, hormones and their superpowers

Weird superpowers

Superhero kids reluctant to be superheroes

Aliens

beings traveling to Earth

Why an alien wouldn’t be able to leave Earth

Reasons an alien would be sent to live on Earth

Human/alien team surviving on hostile planet together

Fantasy/Paranormal

Urban fantasy prompts/creating urban fantasy world (also linked under world building)

gods losing their powers

creations turning on their creators

How elemental powers might work

Why NOT to destroy the world when it’s your goal

Mistreated genies

Tropes of a fantasy (also linked under Writing Motivation/Tips)

Male character ideas in a fantasy

Immortal woman prompts

Beauty and the Beast revamp

How Death and a teenage girl become adventure teammates

Powers for magical beings writing down history

Girl meets demon from forest behind her house

Reverse fairytale prompts

Revamped fairytale prompts 2

Manatees being confused by mermaids

a princess befriends a baby dragon

Making a character believe in a cure for a curse

Egyptian gods living among us

A love between the sun and the moon

What fantasy creatures do on Halloween

Human and fantasy creature become pen pals

Creatures

Monsters and urban legends

Fantastic creatures

A little bit on dragons

Kind dragons

Magic and Witches

witch x wizard romance

witch prompts

Witch being protective over a human-turned-doll

magical boarding school

Ideas for curses

A young witch exploring the boundaries of her powers

Traps a wizard could set for a thief

Angels and Demons

Angels and demons

Angel as a human on earth

Jobs for angels and demons who fall in love

Physical impacts on a demon who keeps dying and coming back

Demons hunter prompts

Vampires

Human meets vampire 1

Human meets vampire 2

How to hide your vampirism from your family

Royal vampires

Vampire hunter gets bitten by a vampire

Reasons a locked up vampire would go after your character

Why a vampire and vampire hunter would work together

Vampire x werewolf forbidden love

Ghosts

Helpful ghost prankster prompts 1

Helpful ghost prankster prompts 2

Human and ghost solving mysteries together

1776 woman with supernatural abilities prompts

A medium whose friend is in a coma

Medium question Pt. 2: their fatal flaws

Battle Scenes

Writing Battle Scenes Tips

How to lead up to an action scene

Keep reading

VERY BASIC WRITING PLANNER

This is the template I start off with whenever I have a new idea.

Overall

Themes :

Aesthetics :

Protagonists :

Antagonists :

Premise :

Subplots :

Characters

Name :

Age :

Sexuality :

Race/Ethnicity :

Role :

Position :

Goal :

Motivation :

Greatest Fear :

Secret :

Physical Description :

Recognizable Physical Traits :

Important backstory (if any) :

Biggest flaws :

Important Relationships : (Love, sibling, mentor, enemies, close friends)

Plotting

Everything has a beginning, middle and end. Therefore, I divide my whole book into three acts, three acts into three blocks, and three blocks into three chapters. They can all vary of course- but having 27 points really helps. This method is not my own- I used Katytastic’s. Click here to learn more.

Basically everything has these three points-

Set up

Conflict

Resolution

World

Races :

Creatures :

Religions :

Magic System :

Technology :

( This is very basic but a good place to start imho)

This also follows something Brandon Sanderson said: a story is the intersection of characters, plot and world tied together by conflict.

I really hope this helped you! Reblog if it did :)

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Building Your Character’s Personality

Character development is extremely important when it comes to storytelling. If your audience doesn’t feel for your character in some way, even if they’re not necessarily a good person, your story will fall flat. As the audience, we need to understand what a character wants, how they’re trying to get it, and what stands in their way. We need to get inside their heads. Talking about character development is one thing, but actually executing it effectively is another. If you’re looking for ways to build your character’s personality, here are a few tips to get you going.

Try focusing on these areas if you want to get a full picture: childhood/past, personal relationships, likes/dislikes, personal opinions, and wants.

 Childhood/past

Your character came from somewhere. Even if your main character is a robot, that’s their past. Their lack of childhood still plays a part in your story. Think about your character’s early life and how it might have shaped what they want now. Your past definitely played a part in building your personality, so it should do the same for your characters. Even if you don’t necessarily discuss their past, you should know it as a writer. You should know how it formed them in some way.  Don’t skip this part!

Personal relationships

It helps to take time developing your character’s personal relationships. Does this character care about anyone? Did that change over time? Who is most important to them? Figuring out these things will help you build your character’s personality. Who and what we care about is very important and it forces us to act in certain ways. If your main character has a son or daughter, this might serve as their motivation for something. Love and friendship, or the lack thereof, has a lot to do with how we develop. Think about the difference between Harry Potter and Voldemort. The story makes it clear that Harry could have gone down the same path if he didn’t have the support of his friends.

Likes/dislikes

Taking the time to fill out one of those character development sheets might make a big difference. You should know what your character enjoys most and what they hate. It might not seem like the most important thing in the world, but we can be shaped by our interests. Know your character’s interests and you will have a better understanding of their personality.

Personal opinions

What is your character’s outlook on life? Do they see the glass as half-empty or half-full? Knowing these things will help you shape your character’s view of the world. If your character has consistently been through hard times, they might have a dim outlook on the world around them. This will shape their personality. All these factors will help form who they are and what they want.

Wants

Knowing what your character wants is super important. Every character should want something. Every character should have a goal of some kind. This information will help you develop your character’s personality. If you they want something really bad for a long time, they might become obsessive. If they don’t want something enough, we might see them as unmotivated and lazy. Use these wants to help shape your character and what actions they will take.

-Kris Noel

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Calling a Character by Their Title or an Epithet

Would you refer to your best friend as “the redhead” or “Kristen”? Is your favorite teacher “the teacher” or “Mr. Small”? An epithet is an adjective or descriptive phrase used to refer to a person. Referring to a character by a trait or their title is called an “amateur mistake” when used incorrectly, but “good perspective writing” when used well.  What makes title of epithet a mistake is when it creates a sense of distance that doesn’t make sense given the narrator’s perspective.

These three sentences are written using different methods of reference, and the method is very telling of how the narrator perceives things.

The doctor waved to the nurse as she passed him in the hallway.

This reads as very impersonal, like the narrator doesn’t know either of these characters. This is the kind of sentence I’d expect from a narrator who just met those two people, or never met them and is just observing some hospital interaction.

Dr. Martinez waved to Nurse Merther as she passed him in the hallway.

Now the narrator is familiar with these characters, just not close enough to use a first name. Maybe they don’t know it, maybe they prefer to be professional with medical personnel, or perhaps they’re a colleague who doesn’t choose to socialize with either of those people.

Angela waved to David as she passed him in the hallway.

The narrator clearly knows these two people well enough to drop any formality at all. Perhaps the narrator is a close friend, a social colleague, or just a rude patient who somehow figured out all the names of the hospital staff.

The point is, the method of reference can show perspective and creates distance when used incorrectly. A narrator familiar with a character almost always uses the character’s name unless the situation is one where there is a power difference or there’s a good reason for it. You don’t think of your best friend as “the (hair color)” and wouldn’t refer to them like that, so you narrator isn’t going to do that to their best friend either. If they do, it often sounds odd and distances the reader.

Now, the line does get fuzzy when a narrator is omniscient 3rd person, but that still ties into the idea of perspective. How the narrator refers to someone shows what they think of the person. This can be used to show growing familiarity: perhaps “the doctor” becomes “Dr. Martinez” after a nice conversation, then becomes “Angela” when the narrator really gets to know her.

“Show, don’t tell” is often used to describe character action, but it applies just as much to perceptive. Instead of narrating how much someone likes their doctor, perhaps opt to use a less formal character reference in scenes. Consistent perspective is the mark of good writing and often a good story. Some  writers use epithets or titles to avoid repetition in their writing, but it’s an incorrect use of impersonal character reference. Swapping out ways to refer to characters because you think your writing is repetitive has two outcomes:

The writing is fine and the pronoun/name use is a non-issue.

The writing is repetitive, and in that case you’re only creating a different problem by swapping pronouns and names for something else. The solution is to work on the repetitiveness of the writing rather than trying to patch it up with nicknames or other ways to refer to people. That “solution” is only creating an additional problem because the underlying writing is still repetitive and now your narrator suddenly seems to have forgotten their friend’s name.

Unnecessary use of titles, epithets, and monikers are a telltale sign of a novice writer. They don’t exist to “spice up” writing or fix an issue of repetitiveness– they’re for showing the reader how the narrator thinks of the character, the level of respect, and personal distance via word choice. Much like many aspects of improving at writing, learning why something is an issue is key to becoming more effective at the craft.

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