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Q&A Is it typical to add variation to the words used for a character's name to keep it spicy?

It's not about "spicy," it's about not being boring. Using "John" in every single dialogue tag can grate on the inner ear. That said, don't overdo it. I would say you should use character names (o...

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:11Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/6060
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:27:16Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/6060
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T02:27:16Z (almost 5 years ago)
It's not about "spicy," it's about not being boring. Using "John" in every single dialogue tag can grate on the inner ear. That said, don't overdo it.

I would say you should use character names (or he/she) 90% of the time, and the other 10% can be "the detective," "the doctor," "the captain," "the younger woman," "her older sister," etc. You want to do it just often enough to prevent monotony.

If you're having trouble figuring out who "Mrs de Havilland" is in a conversation between a husband and wife, then the writer is doing a poor job of attribution, period.

EDIT TO ADD: As JSBangs notes below, using a character's full name and courtesy title (Mr John de Havilland) in a dialog tag sounds very strange to the modern ear. Unless there's some compelling stylistic reason, pick one version of the person's name (Mr de Havilland, Dr. McCoy, John) and stick with that in pretty much all iterations.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2012-07-11T21:39:30Z (over 12 years ago)
Original score: 2