Questions about fanfiction that I need everyone else's opinion on, apparently (part 1)
An epithet is a descriptive term/phrase accompanying or used in place of a person/place/thing's name or pronouns, e.g. the blonde or the older man.
Note: In the poll above, I'm not referring to any of these types of epithets or other uses of the word:
An descriptor accompanying a name, e.g. Howard the Duck
Where surnames do not exist/are not being used, using adjectives to differentiate between people with the same name, e.g. Peter the Celestial-Human hybrid vs. Peter the spiderling.
A descriptor that is a title or alter-ego, e.g. The Mad Titan or The Hulk.
Using an epithet to refer to a character before the POV character knows their name, e.g. if Sam Wilson were to refer to Steve Rogers as The Annoying Guy Who's Running Impossibly Fast and/or Mister Speedy before he realizes who Steve is.
Situations where the word is used in its alternative meaning, to describe an abusive, derogatory, or defamatory word or phrase.
I'm asking only about the types of epithets that are often found in fanfics, and in slash fics in particular, to refer to a character instead of using their name or pronouns.
For example: "The first time Bucky began this phase, Steve didn’t know what to do, how to help the other man. Bucky’s therapist gave Steve a list of things he could do to help the blue-eyed man to ground himself in reality, but the one and only time the blond tried..."
Or: "The supersoldier stopped mid-word and stared at Bucky. The older man did some quick thinking then said..."
(because I didn't want to use any other published fics as an example, the above two examples are taken from two of my own published fics, and names or pronouns were replaced with epithets) (if you're not a Marvel or MCU fan, my apologies for using all MCU characters for the examples)
I personally don't like epithets for multiple reasons.
If you specifically do or don't like epithets, I'd love to hear why!
Please reblog for greater reach and more opinions!
Part 2
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"to whump" in this case means "enjoy when they get whumped"- whether in canon or fic!
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