~being Fine Runs In The Family~

~being fine runs in the family~

I can see why Polyphemus can be simped for

you cowards... saying such things while keeping the anonymity... reveal thyselves

IT'S BEEN 1 YEAR SINCE THE OWL HOUSE ENDED 💜, IT CHANGED ME AS A PERSON AND I WILL FOREVER BE GLAD ABOUT IT

In writing, epithets ("the taller man"/"the blonde"/etc) are inherently dehumanizing, in that they remove a character's name and identity, and instead focus on this other quality.

Which can be an extremely effective device within narration!

They can work very well for characters whose names the narrator doesn't know yet (especially to differentiate between two or more). How specific the epithet is can signal to the reader how important the character is going to be later on, and whether they should dedicate bandwidth to remembering them for later ("the bearded man" is much less likely to show up again than "the man with the angel tattoo")

They can indicate when characters stop being as an individual and instead embody their Role, like a detective choosing to think of their lover simply as The Thief when arresting them, or a royal character being referred to as The Queen when she's acting on behalf of the state

They can reveal the narrator's biases by repeatedly drawing attention to a particular quality that singles them out in the narrator's mind

But these only work if the epithet used is how the narrator primarily identifies that character. Which is why it's so jarring to see a lot of common epithets in intimate moments-- because it conveys that the main character is primarily thinking of their lover/best friend/etc in terms of their height or age or hair color.

I'm not ignoring my WIPs. they're ripening in my mental cellar

Listening to a concert in SS14, an activity that is fun but that I do not recommend if you don't want to be screaming "I know this song, but I don't know which one it is!" at nearly every song.