: Re: Pronouns when writing from the point of view of a robot For the writing challenge, I'm currently writing from the point of view of a robot. Also another robot is frequently addressed. However

@Candy753

Once you're talking about sentient robots, you're solidly into the realms of science fiction (or "speculative fiction", if you feel that's a less loaded term), and the pronouns you choose are part of your world-building. So to make the decision, you need to ask yourself some questions about the background of your setting, such as:


Do they think of themselves as equivalent to humans, or mere tools, or even superior?
Do humans agree?
Does your narrator agree?
Do you want to make your reader see them as "people", or as machines, or as something unfamiliar and "alien"?
Are robots visibly different, or might they be mistaken for humans?


The answers may be different for different parts of the story, because they are from different points of view, or due to the progression of the plot.

You then have a number of choices:


Use "he" and "she" for the most familiar, human-seeming prose.
Use "it" to highlight them as artificial.
Use "they" as an easily-understood but gender-neutral form, less familiar to some readers, but not truly "alien", and more "human" than "it".
Use one of the many attempts over the years at coining a new pronoun ("zhe", "co", "hesh", etc), to convey a more forcefully post-gender environment.
Use pronouns of your own invention, for a more deliberate distancing from our current society.


The pronouns might apply to all your characters, or robots might use one set and humans another. Again, this will give a flavour of how integrated the two groups are.

You don't have to tell the reader any of this reasoning, of course; if it's consistent with the rest of the style and content, it will feel natural.

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