Holoman
Troubadour
This may sound an odd question, but how do you handle references to people in a scene in which no one is named? I am finding that referring to 'his arm' or saying things like 'he fell', when referring to two unnamed people in the same sentence as they fight, it's hard not to make it confusing about who the 'he' is.
For example, I'm currently editing my first chapter, it involves a MC who doesn't know anyone's name around him, and multiple other men are there. He doesn't even know his own name, and I am writing close 3rd person so do not want the narrator to name him or anyone else. I refer to the MC as 'him/he/his' etc from the outset, as he is unnamed, but then another man starts to chase him.
The way I have tried to do it so far is for the MC to give the other man a tag. The one I have used is 'the giant' as he's so tall. So then I describe the other man as an 'it', so I say something like 'The giant ran after him, its breath heavy' rather than 'The man ran after him, his breath heavy'. But I am worried that, given this is fantasy, it will dehumanise the other man and give the impression he is actually some sort of giant. For other reasons important to the story I really need the other man to be unambiguously human.
Are there other ways of writing something like this? I have tried writing without ever having to use his/he in reference to the other man, and just using the tag 'the man' but it is very difficult.
For example, I'm currently editing my first chapter, it involves a MC who doesn't know anyone's name around him, and multiple other men are there. He doesn't even know his own name, and I am writing close 3rd person so do not want the narrator to name him or anyone else. I refer to the MC as 'him/he/his' etc from the outset, as he is unnamed, but then another man starts to chase him.
The way I have tried to do it so far is for the MC to give the other man a tag. The one I have used is 'the giant' as he's so tall. So then I describe the other man as an 'it', so I say something like 'The giant ran after him, its breath heavy' rather than 'The man ran after him, his breath heavy'. But I am worried that, given this is fantasy, it will dehumanise the other man and give the impression he is actually some sort of giant. For other reasons important to the story I really need the other man to be unambiguously human.
Are there other ways of writing something like this? I have tried writing without ever having to use his/he in reference to the other man, and just using the tag 'the man' but it is very difficult.