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Q&A When writing in third person perspective, how do you differentiate the 'she' or the 'he' from the other 'he's and 'she's?

It can often help to clearly separate who you're talking about. If you have different genders in conversation, it's easier, but you'll just have to find another separator for other situations. Like...

posted 5y ago by Gloweye‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T13:15:02Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/49018
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Gloweye‭ · 2019-12-08T13:15:02Z (almost 5 years ago)
It can often help to clearly separate who you're talking about. If you have different genders in conversation, it's easier, but you'll just have to find another separator for other situations. Like this:

> Woman\_1 said something.
> 
> Woman\_2 thought about it, tapped her fingers and the side of her arm, and answered.
> 
> "But it's not like this, it's like that!"
> 
> "I feel it's like this, though"
> 
> She looked at her in deep thought.

Who looked at who in thought? It's simple - you switch the initiative every line. Woman\_1 was doing things in lines 1, 3, and 5, while Woman\_2 was doing things in lines 2 and 4. Therefore, It's Woman\_1 looking at Woman\_2, because it's her turn to do something.

Of course, if a sequence gets longer, then you'll have to restate names, or identifiers. ("The taller woman answered..." - which of course requires the reader to know whose taller. You'll generally have better differences than length, though.)

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-11-21T15:12:36Z (almost 5 years ago)
Original score: 1