DISCUSSION: I think epithets are overused, and here's why:

[unrepentantAuthor]

Hi there, I'm unrepentantAuthor, and I know some things about writing prose fiction, fanfiction culture, and debating stuff. I'm going to talk about some opinions of mine, and once you've read them you are invited to tell me how right or wrong you think I am!

First off, what's an epithet? An epithet is an adjective or phrase expressing a quality of the person or thing mentioned. In other words, it's basically just a short description, one or two words long. I might say that a character is a 'tall woman' or 'a vagabond.' In fanfiction, epithets are frequently used in place of a proper noun or pronoun. Like so:

The young trainer stared back evenly.

Imagine that the above quote is from a chapter I'm writing. I could have written "He stared" or "Daniel stared" since I've already been writing about Daniel for a few hundred words by now. Instead, I used an epithet.

My problem with using epithets in this way is that it's unnecessary and distracting, even confusing. If we already know who the young trainer is, why not use his name or pronoun? I advocate that one should use names and pronouns more often than not.

You see, epithets either use information already known to the reader, or they don't. In the case of the former, it's redundant. In the case of the latter, it's confusing to the reader and an ineffective way of communication the information. Let me elaborate.

I might have used another epithet such as 'the shorter boy' or 'the dark-haired challenger' or even 'our protagonist' if I felt really pretentious. If I said "the shorter boy" then I might be trying to tell the audience something about his relative height, but really what happens is that they have to take a moment to figure out whether the shorter boy is Daniel or his rival, Adam. This is the sort of disruption that epithets with new information create. Meanwhile, "the dark-haired challenger" has already been established to be a participant trainer and a brunet. There's no need to mention them in this way.

I think some authors use epithets because they think it makes the prose more interesting, but the truth is that just like using "pontificated" instead of "said" this practice only stands out awkwardly from the text where a plainer word would be skipped over by the reader's eye without note. Pronouns and names and the word "said" are all perfectly functional, sensible tools in the author's toolbox. Use them!

I welcome all discussion, and would just like to stress that for all my absolute phrasing, this is only a matter of opinion. Thanks for reading!

 

[Ambyssin]

I was somewhat guilty of doing this. By which I mean falling into the trap of labeling nicknamed Pokémon as "the X" or non-nicknamed Pokémon as "the blah-type." A reviewer brought it to my attention, saying it seemed very stiff and kind of unnecessary so now I try to only use names or pronouns aside from a couple of instances where I confused myself in drafting with said pronouns. And as I'm going back and revising I'm removing all of my epithets and replacing them with names or pronouns.

A friend of mind made a counterargument about this that I just wanted to post. They believe epithets are sometimes necessary for writing Pokémon-only stores where all the characters have names... because otherwise you risk having your readers forget what species the characters are in the first place. Which is, admittedly, something I didn't consider, since most of the characters are addressed by their species name. I'd like to think a good work around for that is, well, having the characters do things that draw attention to their physical attributes. But I guess your mileage varies on that one.

 

[diamondpearl876]

A friend of mind made a counterargument about this that I just wanted to post. They believe epithets are sometimes necessary for writing Pokémon-only stores where all the characters have names... because otherwise you risk having your readers forget what species the characters are in the first place. Which is, admittedly, something I didn't consider, since most of the characters are addressed by their species name. I'd like to think a good work around for that is, well, having the characters do things that draw attention to their physical attributes. But I guess your mileage varies on that one.

This tbh, especially for long running fics with such huge casts that I can't keep them all straight. My memory isn't that fantastic.

In Pokémon fics, too, especially ones featuring sentient Pokémon, I do tend to use epithets to remind people of animalistic traits they possess. Similarly, reminding people of important character features could make epithets useful. In your example, reminding readers that the character is "young" could be really important in a scene where, say, drugs are involved, to emphasize the context that a kid is getting involved in some serious stuff. You're right in that readers already know this kind of stuff... but I think, when used at the right time and with the proper wording, they can add impact. That means they'd be best used sparingly, though.

 

[Gama]

I strongly agree with your general thesis @unrepentantAuthor

I know this is something I've been guilty of in the past. I think it is an easy habit to get into because when writing we are hyper conscious of our own repetitions in a way that readers are not. I think your comparison to the use of "said" instead of synonyms for that word is a perfect one. Both are examples of things that feel unnatural and clunky to write and yet feel much more natural than the alternative to read.

Hugely agree on the confusion element. My experience has been that even when it is very clear to me that the epithet could only be used to refer to one of my characters that readers have still been confused by who it refers to.

I think Ambyssin and dp876 raise a good point regarding situations where you are consciously trying to remind the reader of a physical trait about your character. Firstly, I would suggest that this is probably only the right way forward when your reason for using an epithet rather than a name or pronoun is consciously to foreground some sort of physical descriptor rather than to vary language, as it commonly is. Secondly, it is often more effective in that sort of context to refer to the character in question by name and then use a follow-up sentence to communicate whatever the information about them you want to communicate is, even if you've already referred to it previously. For example, if you want to, like dp's example, foreground the animalistic traits of a Pokemon you might say:

"Rex hesitated before entering the room. The grey fur of his coat stood on end and he instinctively bared his fangs."

The second sentence there does give some indication as to how Rex is feeling but mainly functions to remind the reader of some physical descriptors you want them to keep in mind.

In addition, you'll know well, uA, that in my current fic, Brotherhood, I've been guilty of using epithets although for a slightly different reason than those discussed. In that case, it's to do with two characters whose names are initially unknown to the reader and are mostly seen from the perspectives of a bunch of other characters who have not met them before and do not know their names. I've used consistent epithets to describe them to indicate to the reader who they are, almost in place of names. Granted not everyone here is familiar with Brotherhood, but I would be interested to know if people felt there was a better way to go about this.

 

[lucarioknight56]

I've used epithets quite a few times in Unequivocant, primarily as a reminder for species or characteristics. I also use it for variance, as I tend to start my paragraphs with character names, and it comes off as repetitive if I continually use a proper name or pronoun. I've been getting better about changing the first line of a paragraph to something different than a name, but as its still an issue, I'll keep usingi t.

Now, I'd not use epithets so much if I was writing a human-centric fic rather than a Pokemon-centric. That I can guarantee. There's only so much you can say about a person's characteristics in an epithet, and I can understand why you should avoid them in that context. But in a PMD fic, you really do have to remind readers every so often on what the different species are.

 

[Beth Pavell]

A good rule of thumb, I think, is to use them for a reason, not because you think it's boring to use a name each time. The same principle can be applied to the said bookism - yes, it's entirely possible to get carried away, but it's not inherently more literary to not use perfectly good vocabulary.

In the context of fanfiction, the most banal usages are where they tell the reader something they already know, and worse, is already a cliché. A typical example would be calling Ash Ketchum a "raven-haired boy". Everyone knows Ash has black hair; raven-haired doesn't add new information, save perhaps to unsubtly romanticise mere black hair; it's a descriptor the reader may well have seen a hundred times before, so it's not even an especially creative use of language.

I agree that there's a much better argument for it with pokémon, since even outside a PMD-style story it's easy to lose track of what species "Lucinda" is. Part of me thinks that it should also be signalled by the way they behave, since some allegedly pokémon characters seem to be able to do everything a human can.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

I'd hoped to see some arguments in favour of epithets, and here they are~

Seems like the main discussion point along those lines is the utility of referring to non-human characters by their species to refresh the memory of the reader, but even then I would say what Beth has just said: that this information is so important that it should inform the narration, keeping epithets to a minimum. For example, I was recently reading @Ambyssin's Guiding Light and the features of the pokémon characters are so frequently relevant to the narration that there's little risk of my forgetting their species. It's still a reasonable concern, of course.

I actually do believe epithets, like adverbs and the passive voice, have legitimate use to a discerning writer, but that they should be used with care, and sparingly.

 

[WanderingKalosan]

Heh, this one is interesting. I am using ephitets myself and I actually like them. They make the narrative less mechanical and less repetitive. This may be language/cultural thing, but if the autheor uses strictly names and pronouns and nothing else it feels to me like there is literally nothing else interesting or outstanding about that character.
Also, in a long dialogue between two male characters, "he" pronoun would become actually confusing because it doesn't properly identify who the speaker is and you shouldn't be using just the names in that situation. And no sometimes the reader cannot tell regardless, based on the personalities. It may be a quick exchange of heated arguments. You do not want the reader to lose track of which line was uttered by whom, and ephitet doubles as handy second/third name for your character.

Agree with the note it should be used carefully tho. Like any tool it is not right or wrong, it is just knowing how/when/where to use it.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

There are some situations in which epithets are handy in the way you've described, but I find them tolerable only so long as they are used only when necessary. Some epithets bother me more than others. "The taller man" drives me absolutely nuts, particularly because it's not fit-for-purpose unless you're already fully familiar with the relative heights. Professions, species and similar epithets don't irritate me so much. Using pokémon species in fanfiction is actually among the most defensible uses of epithets.

 

[Ereshkigal]

It depends on how confusing the work is, and generally I find it's better to have an editor determine how much is too much.

If you have a lot of unnamed characters, or even characters with the same name, epithets can help people keep who is who straight. Though, it's probably better to name the nameless if you have that many.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

I don't consider it good practice to have multiple characters with the same name without good reason. That's a pretty extreme example of demand for epithets, and is itself a good reason to avoid having too many similar names.

 

[Ereshkigal]

It mostly comes up if you're basing your work a lot on real life or mixing in a lot of real-world material. Depending on the family and the commonality of the name, you can have quite a few people with nearly identical names without there being a "Jr." or "Sr." involved.

My extended family on my biological father's side is like that. I have six distant uncles, with little in common beyond name, who I remember by hair color, age, and the fact one's a doctor. If I were to write them into a Pokemon story, you'd see a lot of Old Steve talking to Baby Steve, Blond Steve, Redhead Steve, Bald Steve, and Brown-hair Steve.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

I hadn't considered that! I have no intention of writing non-fiction stories, or even based-on-truth fictional stories in which I don't change names for privacy and readability, but this principle still applies to family members sharing a surname at the very least. Also in professional environments wherein multiple persons present use the same title, but that's less significant.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I've been reading a lot of Newverse (a Pokémon/My Little Pony crossover setting) stories recently, and I've always noticed that the ones that use a lot of epithets, usually of the "the X-type" variety, also tend to have less-than-stellar grammar.

Also, in late 2016 and early 2017, I used to read a lot of one author's Cars fanfictions, who uses epithets more often than the characters' actual names. My personal favourite was calling a ramp "the aforementioned incline".

 

[diamondpearl876]

It mostly comes up if you're basing your work a lot on real life or mixing in a lot of real-world material. Depending on the family and the commonality of the name, you can have quite a few people with nearly identical names without there being a "Jr." or "Sr." involved.

My extended family on my biological father's side is like that. I have six distant uncles, with little in common beyond name, who I remember by hair color, age, and the fact one's a doctor. If I were to write them into a Pokemon story, you'd see a lot of Old Steve talking to Baby Steve, Blond Steve, Redhead Steve, Bald Steve, and Brown-hair Steve.

I could also see this popping up in Japenese culture settings, where people refer to each other by last name informally and only resort to first names when they’re closer. I’m sure it’s more nuanced than that, but basically, if you’ve got a character talking to a son and father, they could be using the same name.

Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen a Pokemon fic that does this, though Kanto and Johto are heavily inspired by Japan...

 

[Ereshkigal]

I could also see this popping up in Japenese culture settings, where people refer to each other by last name informally and only resort to first names when they’re closer. I’m sure it’s more nuanced than that, but basically, if you’ve got a character talking to a son and father, they could be using the same name.

Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen a Pokemon fic that does this, though Kanto and Johto are heavily inspired by Japan...

I am probably wrong on this (I need to research it), but I think in Japan the honorific changes depending on generation, so you might have a Kobayahi-san and a Kobayashi-kun in the same room. But siblings with the same last name might still be an issue.

Admittedly, my own fanfic will eventually have that come up, particularly with the Karashina Clan. There's, like, eight people with the last name Karashina who will show up, and some of them are experts in their field.

Edit: A useful guide to Japanese honorifics: Japanese Honorifics Guide: San, Kun, Chan, Sama and More

In this cases, Shirona would be Karashina-sama for her World Champion status, Makoto would be Karashina-chan, Shirona's grandmother would be Karashina-sama for being a Pokemon professor, and Kotone would be Karashina-san to outsiders (Karashina-sama to those who know her story). Lena would be Karashina-chan or Karashina-san. And Chris might be Hatter-kun or Hatter-san.

I also plan to include a -baka honorific, which isn't a real honorific but just Shirona openly insulting someone.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

the aforementioned incline

Ouch. See, this is part of what I'm talking about, and it's not just to do with characters. The best writing doesn't need these kind of contrived and awkward phrasings. Don't overcomplicate your prose.