b1ah
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- Joined
- Jun 10, 2021
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My initial aim was to write a book for a wide audience, and one way was to avoid using pronouns directing at the protagonist. This way it would be easier for readers to insert themselves. I've recently decided to restart and revise 'The Uprise of a Nobody', mainly because of the confusing mess I created when I spontaneously decided against an inexplicit gender which dropped the quality of writing dramatically.
The main issue I see is describing actions when writing. An example being 'as he wiped the sweat off his neck.'. Simply describing an action like that makes it quite difficult to avoid using pronouns. 'as Alex wiped the trickling sweat off Alex's neck.'? I'll have to use a unisex first name more often to replace some pronouns. I will also need to generalise or be more specific to avoid using a name multiple times. 'as Alex wiped the trickling sweat running down the drenched t-shirt.'.
I want this to be subtle, by not using gender-neutral pronouns like Ze/Xe/Zim/Xim/etc.
The main issue I see is describing actions when writing. An example being 'as he wiped the sweat off his neck.'. Simply describing an action like that makes it quite difficult to avoid using pronouns. 'as Alex wiped the trickling sweat off Alex's neck.'? I'll have to use a unisex first name more often to replace some pronouns. I will also need to generalise or be more specific to avoid using a name multiple times. 'as Alex wiped the trickling sweat running down the drenched t-shirt.'.
I want this to be subtle, by not using gender-neutral pronouns like Ze/Xe/Zim/Xim/etc.