Tag, You're It!
One of the things I had to learn when I started writing novels was how to deal with a large cast. Assassin's Choice, my first completed novel, opened with five characters that were nearly always present, and that grew to eight by the end of chapter three. With so many characters, in this case two women and six men, a writer needs a way to refer to characters other than their name or by their gender correct pronoun. Using a character's name over and over becomes tiresome for readers, and the pronouns can get confusing. One way around this problem is "tagging": using a word that describes some aspect of the character in place of the character's name or a pronoun.
Tags need to be chosen so they clearly indicate which character they refer to. Using the tag "the human" in a fantasy novel is not helpful if there are three humans in the group of characters you're trying to individualize. So each character's tags must be unique to that character. In addition, the tags must be easy to introduce and associate with the character. You can't just start referring to a character as "the mage" and expect readers to understand which character is being referred to. One way to get a tag associated with a character is through the character's description. If there are no other blondes in your group of characters, making sure to note Sally is a blonde will make it clear that Sally is the character in question when "the blonde" is used instead of the character's name. Another way is to wait to introduce a tag until right after the character does the action the tag indicates, but the association needs to be made as close to the action as possible. For example:
Elden lifted his hands and released the spell. Blue flame surrounded the creature, trapping it.
"Keep it there!" Kara yelled drawing her bow.
The mage nodded curtly, annoyed she'd think he would let anything so dangerous get loose.
Another way to introduce a tag is in reverse: use the tag first then have another character refer to the tagged character by name. For example:
"Once again you ladies cause a stir wherever you go," commented her companion, a tall, lanky priest of Khastelion.
"They probably don't see many of our people here these days, Dimas." She smiled with amusement.
Later, when Dimas is again referred as "the priest", readers will know which character he is because it was clearly indicated in the above exchange.
Like the character's name or associated pronouns, tags must be used judiciously. It can get just as tedious to see "the lawyer" every time a particular character is mentioned as it can to see the character's name. Even when introducing the tag, you want to mix in the character's actual name to help strengthen the association and to keep the tag from being overused. And don't try to establish more than one tag per character or too many tags for different characters at one time. Since it's easier to remember a smaller number of items, try to keep initial tagging to three or four characters at most and gradually add new tag/character associations.
Like everything else in writing, however, tagging needs to be done naturally, as a part of the story, or it can be seen as an author intrusion or gimmick. To be reinforced, the character and new tag must be introduced and used in close proximity. Introducing the character and using the tag for the first time ten pages later risks confusing the reader. And find ways to reinforce the tag, at least initially. For example, Dimas is given the "priest" tag in the example above, but it gets reinforced later in the scene:
The Khastelion knight joined them, his green eyes flickering to the eltyan then back to the others as he took his seat. "He's reserved the last three rooms for us, but he's charging extra for the two private rooms."
The keristengar turned a sour glance on the silver lyanthry.
She met his eyes calmly before facing the knight. "Thank you, Roqué."
...
After a second refill of his ale, the keristengar glared sullenly at his mug. "Now what?"
"Don't worry so, Irikar, something will come up," the golden lyanthry said. "Isn't that so, Dimas?"
The black-haired priest nodded. "Windhome may be quieter with the cold season coming, but it's still the best place for caravan work."
In this case, using the names in the dialogue works because it's a group of people and the comments are being directed to two different people. In general, however, we don't refer to the people we're talking to by name too often, so use it sparingly even when introducing tags.
Every character should have more than one tag to help keep references varied when needed, but more than two or three would be overkill and could get confusing for the reader. My main character in Assassin's Choice has the tags of eltyan (race), druidess (career), and later, princess (birthright). All these tags are unique to her alone. If you are a writer who uses profiles, consider what tags can be used when creating each character's profile. Add a line to the profile template you're using just for the character's tags. If you don't use profiles, consider making a file that lists your characters and their tags so you don't refer to two characters by the same tag. Try to use tags that refer to race, coloring, occupation, and the like. Tags that refer to a character's temperament can become crutches and make it easy to avoid showing the behavior. Keeping them off the list can help a writer avoid that particular trap.
Tags are an excellent way to help identify characters and add a bit of color, especially when working with a large cast. Introduced and used judiciously, they can provide a way for a writer to avoid pronoun confusion without having to default to a character's name repeatedly. And they can provide an additional window into a character just by the choices writers make when they use them.
