My love/hate relationship with epithets

Some time ago I read an article about using epithets.  An epithet is an adjective used in place of a name in a sentence.  I wish I could remember where I found this particular article, but it really opened my eyes to how I look at my own writing and how I use epithets.

After reading that article, I realized how annoyingly repetitive I was with epithets, especially as I've gone through the edit and revision of Incarnate Dream.  I kept using "the elf," "the fairy," "the Molouk," etc. in places where their names or pronouns would have been much more appropriate.  You can use that sort of epithet when first introducing the character, but thereafter, it should already be clear what that person is (race and gender, in this case).




This isn't to say that epithets are completely inappropriate.  When describing a quality of a character, an additional epithet can appropriately emphasize the point of the sentence/paragraph.  But if you're not constantly describing that quality, you shouldn't constantly use that epithet.  Or if you have multiple characters of the same sex that happen to be in the same scene and paragraph, epithets can help sort out who is who without overusing names.

So while revising, I've been trying to find a fine balance between using and not using epithets to tell the story.  Two main characters are female and two are male; the two females end up going one way together, and the males another way.  So, the same sexes appear in the same scenes, and while I have tried to use their names more often, sometimes I have to resort to epithets to avoid overusing their names or respective pronouns sentence after sentence.

I like to use epithets rarely to help describe a character's quality, as I mentioned earlier, but I don't do it often.  For example, if I am describing a character using magical power and they have a title relevant to their powers, I may use an epithet instead of their name or pronoun.

This has been on my mind lately as I've seen epithets over and over in Incarnate Dream.  Talk about a two-edged blade.