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The only way I see to maintain the effect you're talking about is not to use pronouns. You can use the character's name. You can use their profession / rank / etc. You can say "we did", "they did" ...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38748 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/38748 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
The only way I see to maintain the effect you're talking about is not to use pronouns. You can use the character's name. You can use their profession / rank / etc. You can say "we did", "they did" (talking about multiple people) since the plural hides gender. If you're describing a group situation, it's easier to hide that you're doing this, since it makes better sense to give names all the time when you're talking about several people. You can talk about inanimate objects instead of the person manipulating them (e.g. "the gun fired" instead of "she fired the gun"). For example: > We were together at a pub yesterday. Alpha was telling this joke, we were all on the floor laughing. Then Echo says [..], and that annoyed Whiskey. So suddenly, Whiskey up and draws a gun on Echo, and Alpha gets between them to try and stop this madness. You can assume, but you have no idea whether Alpha, Echo and Whiskey are male or female.