: How to refer to characters in a non-repetitive way in the third person? Currently, I'm running into an issue with constructing a scene in third person in which the POV character is having a

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Brenda did a thing. She was always doing that thing.
"I resent you thinking I always do that thing."
"Sorry, Mom, but you totally always do that thing," he said. His mother stormed off.

I don't think it sounds repetitive, I only changed the words: "His mother" to "Brenda".
You can give "his mother / ma / mom / (the) overworked parent / stressed out mom of two" a proper name.

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Whenever I do dialogue in my works, I re-read it later and anytime I even think I get confused about who just spoke I add a 'he said' tag. If the dialogue is short, there won't be many of these. If it's longer there will be. But the longer also tends to get broken up by action, a pause in the dialogue as it were that lets the reader reestablish everything about the scene that's not included in the words. Also having one character refer to the other by name helps and can be used to set tone as much as anything outside of the dialogue. Ie after four switches of dialogue the child starts with 'Why do you always have to be that way mother' etc. If the child usually calls her 'mom' and then suddenly and only this once uses 'mother' not only have you reminded the reader who is speaking but changed the tone subtly.

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The thing about real life (and movies (and radio-plays (etc))) is that people generally sound different to each other. Some reasons for this are:

Men usually have deeper voices than women
People from Birmingham have a different accent to those from London
Drunk people tend to slur their words more than sober people
A lung full of helium makes a person sound like a (cartoon) chipmunk
etc.

The point is, people can be distinguished from each other by ear. But when a reader only has the written word to work out who is talking, then it is up to the writer to use those words to give clues. When this happens effectively - names are not so necessary.

For example, there are regional differences between folk. Listen to people who speak with different dialects and you will notice certain peculiarities of speech. Someone from Sheffield might call people 'Love' or 'Duck' far more that would seem appropriate. Those from London might drop 'innit' or the odd piece of rhyming slang into the mix. Caribbean natives use patois as well as words derived from French, Spanish or other languages.

Similarly, old people talk differently to younger people. Language changes over the years and is reflected in what people say to each other. Men have different patterns of speech to women and so a terse statement could indicate the male is talking whilst a longer passage might indicate a woman.

All these things, of course, draw on stereotypes - but still, done subtly, they can give enough clues to make names unnecessary.

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@LHH I'm posting an actual answer in response to your comment above.

Firstly, I gathered it wasn't the actual scene. There's nothing wrong with posting your actual writing so long as you are asking a valid question (which you are) and not expecting an edit of that sample. I would change your question to use part of your own scene.

Secondly, if the repetition of 'his mother' is already annoying you, you can guarantee it's going to annoy your reader.

You say that you need to use 'his mother' repeatedly to stay true to the way the protagonist feels about her. As in, you wish to make it clear to the reader that the protagonist is annoyed/frustrated by her and this is best conveyed by constantly referring to her as 'mother'? It's a common foible, especially with new writers (I know because I slip into it often myself), to feel they need to be extremely clear about the meaning they wish to convey, to the point that they end up beating the reader over the head with it.

Readers are surprisingly adept at divining meaning from very subtle lines of dialogue and action. And you may find you do not need to hammer the protagonist's feelings home with the constant repetition of 'mother'.

I would suggest you look closely at your scene and see if his feelings are already conveyed with your protagonist's dialogue and actions. Instead of telling the reader about his frustrations with this constant repetition, try showing it instead. Convey it in his language, in the way he taps his forehead in frustration, or takes deep breaths and counts to ten (these are just examples).

For example:

She was doing it again. She was always doing it.

She said, "I resent you for even thinking that."

Ben pressed his fingers hard into his temples. "Sorry, Mom, but you did
it yesterday, you're doing it now, you're always doing it!"

His mother stormed out.

You may find there are moments when you don't need the 'his mother' tag at all, because it is very clear that she is speaking. So remove as many as you can. As in the above example, the 'he said' isn't required.

I would also leave the scene to rest for a few days, then come back to it and read it out loud. Does it still sound repetitive? Are ALL the 'mothers' really necessary or could you leave just a few in place where they have moments of real impact, replacing the rest with 'she'?

Remember that repetition sometimes has the opposite effect to the one you intend. A bit like when you say a word over and over until it loses all meaning. Instead of giving the word power by using it in one or two select places, repetition removes its power altogether.

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In Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling alternates between "Aunt Petunia" "his aunt" and "she".

In Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury has the following:

Far off, the old man smiled.
They approached each other, carefully.
'Is that you, Will? Grown an inch since this morning.' Charles Halloway shifted his gaze. 'Jim. Eyes darker, cheeks paler; you burn yourself at both ends, Jim?'
'Heck,' said Jim.
'No such place as Heck. But hell's right here under "A" for Alighieri.'
'Allegory's beyond me,' said Jim.
'How stupid of me,' Dad laughed. 'I mean Dante.' (Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes, chapter 2)

In the same passage, he uses "the old man", "Charles Halloway" and "Dad", all referring to the same person, same character's father.

I'd say, the third person narration can reflect how the MC thinks of the character they're talking to, and how you want the reader to think of them. Harry Potter doesn't think of his aunt as "Mrs. Dursley", nor as "auntie", so you wouldn't see those terms used.
You would see "Mrs. Dursley", for example, used if you wanted to distance the reader from Harry's POV, make them see the scene without Harry's bias, as it were. Such usage would be somewhat jarring, which you could use to deliberate effect.

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