: Re: How to refer to siblings who are friends? Two of the MCs in the novel I'm working on are half-sisters, and also great friends. Currently, when referring to them, I alternate between using "sisters"

@Cody1607638

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The answer you have accepted is incomplete.

Take three people:
Dan - Captain of a ship.
Adele - Communications officer on Dan's ship, and a very good friend of Dan.
Bob - Captain of another ship.

When Dan and Adele interact, you might want to emphasize their friendship and refer to Adele's friend Dan.
When they are on the bridge of the ship working, then it would be appropriate to refer to Dan's communications officer Adele.
When Dan talks to Bob in their official capacities, it would be appropriate for Dan to refer to Adele as his communications officer.
When Dan talks to Bob over a beer in a bar somewhere, he might discuss his friend Adele.

Randomly switching will confuse and irritate your readers. Switching to appropriate words in different contexts can help your reader understand the relationships.

In your example, you would refer to them as siblings when they interact with other family members. When outsiders refer to them, then those siblings could be discussed as though they are friends - that underscores that the outsiders know the two siblings, but not well enough to know that they are siblings.

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