Good morning,
Any thoughts on using pronouns (she, her, hers, etc) versus character names in writing female on female scenes?
I find pronouns can get confusing... "whose tits are being grabbed?" But, using character names too frequently becomes clumsy.
I welcome any thoughts or techniques.
Thanks
#1, give them different hair colors. That's the easiest identifier to use when the pronoun doesn't do the job and you feel the name is too repetitious.
You might consider having one shaved bare and the other not. That's another easy way to identify who's who in the right circumstances. One busty and the other not so much is another possibility. If it fits, older vs. younger is an easy identifier. Maybe one has tan lines and the other doesn't.
Sometimes you can use a relationship or profession as an identifier. One's a bartender and the other isn't, for example. Boss vs. employee for another. That can get clunky, but sometimes it works.
Nicknames/shortened versions of full names can help dull down repetition of identifiers. Start using both before the sex scene starts, though. Establish it in the narrative from the beginning.
Personality traits. Is one aggressive and one submissive? If you can make that come across in the narrative, that can identify who's who by the way they speak or react.
The location can be helpful under the right circumstances. Maybe she's grabbing her headboard instead of the headboard because it's her place.
By the same token, the position can work. Who's on top/against the wall/etc. can be established with the name, and then the position identifies who's who until the position changes.
It helps to plan some of this in advance, but draw on any differences between them, and see if it flows in the narrative as an alternative to the name or pronoun.
