: Re: How to refer to character of focus in a story I find that when I write, I'm not always sure how to refer to the character of focus. You can only say "he/she" so many times before it feels

In order to not get repetitive, make variable rules; that is, a sort of an algorithm that allows for variety in your writing as well as clarity/consistency...

Don't switch names when referring to the same characters within the narration from the POV of one character. Lt. Timz can't call his wife "Moya Zvizda" and "Ellen" in both the dialog and the narration when he's the POV of the scene. - Limited-third-person/first-person narration
When the scene has only two characters and they're of opposite genders, the pronouns "he" and "she" most often suffice.
With several characters of the same gender, mention by name the character that is the subject of each sentence except when the previous sentence either already had them being the subject or didn't have a subject of the same gender. - Wouldn't work in some languages with limited 3rd-p pronouns; eg. Finnish.
When referring to characters using pronouns, see if the setting/surrounding-action/... helps you as a reader identify them without rereading preceding sentences.

eg. A character reading by the fire talks to another sitting by the window. If either "looks up from his book"/"leans against the window" before talking, using one pronoun shouldn't be confusing but don't overuse it.

If the character is a major one that readers are supposed to pay attention to, refer to him/her either by his/her most popular nick-name used in dialog, or by his/her first or last name. Whatever you him/her to be remembered/though of as.

eg. "Peter Ivanovich Bobchinsky" and "Peter Ivanovich Dobchinsky" can be referred to as "Bob" and "Dob" respectively...

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: Quality examples of 'in medias res' starting sequences in SF literature You can find my initial trials here, and, based on feedback, version two here. I was trying to create a sort of 'flashforward'

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: I paraphrased this from Robert Harris' MLA In-Text Citation Style, November 2010. It is based on the Seventh Edition of MLA for Research Writers, 2009, which remains the most current version.

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: Help creating an ebook Does anyone have some experience creating ebooks? I have a book that I want to create an ebook from; I considered converting the book, but after trying, it produced very

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: Style signatures and uncommon formatting patterns Style signatures are bits of words and phrases used consistently throughout the entirety of a work (but not necessarily among my unrelated works).

: Re: How to refer to character of focus in a story I find that when I write, I'm not always sure how to refer to the character of focus. You can only say "he/she" so many times before it feels

More posts by @Cofer669

: Quality examples of 'in medias res' starting sequences in SF literature You can find my initial trials here, and, based on feedback, version two here. I was trying to create a sort of 'flashforward'

: I paraphrased this from Robert Harris' MLA In-Text Citation Style, November 2010. It is based on the Seventh Edition of MLA for Research Writers, 2009, which remains the most current version.

: Help creating an ebook Does anyone have some experience creating ebooks? I have a book that I want to create an ebook from; I considered converting the book, but after trying, it produced very

: Style signatures and uncommon formatting patterns Style signatures are bits of words and phrases used consistently throughout the entirety of a work (but not necessarily among my unrelated works).

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