This has to stop:

 

Referring to a character as the...

taller/older/elder/younger/vocalist/dancer/rapper/male/female

 

 

It seriously has to. Stop.

 

This is mostly a problem in the boyxboy community and presumably also in the girlxgirl community (though I haven't seen it as much there, perhaps because I read more bxb), and is not so prevalent in straight fics.

What I mean is something like:

 

“The elder sat down next to the younger male.”

 

If you only read fanfictions, I guess some of you are already used to it by now, and don't even notice it. But I can assure you that in normal fiction this is not a thing. It's just not.*

 

 

 

*Yes, if you dig deep enough, I'm sure you can find some novel where this is done, but then usually one of the two applies: i) The author has a very specific reason for using these terms, beyond random identifiers ii) It's a really really bad novel.

 

 

 

 

 

Why shouldn't we do this?

 

The fact that it's not done elsewhere is, of course, not the only (nor most important) reason why we shouldn't do this.

 

To explain my point, let me show you a short made up example:

 

When the baker entered the kitchen, the lawyer was already sitting by the table, smearing honey over her freshly made toast. Quietly, the shorter one sat down, and poured himself a coffee.

“You came home late last night,” the baker said after the silence had been too long.

“Yes, I had to go out with the guys at work.” The taller one replied.

“The guys?” The older one tried to hold back a frown. “Again?”

“Yes. We already talked about this.” The lawyer replied, brushing her hair behind her ear. “This is my work. It's normal that I have to socialize.”

The short male baker snickered: “Doesn't look like you hate it, exactly.”

Standing up, the younger one glared at him: “I can't talk to you when you're like this.” The taller one grabbed her briefcase and hurried outside, but not before yelling back: “Call me when you grow up!”

 

 

So... this makes No sense at all. But the situation is like this: the wife (lawyer, taller, younger) has to work late so her husband (baker, shorter, older) gets jealous over breakfast the next day.

 

Yes this is exaggerated, and usually it is not this bad, but it's just meant as an example.

 

The reasons for why this is bad:

It doesn't have anything to do with the situation who is older/younger or who is taller/shorter. Nothing at all. So it's weird to add that because it confuses the reader and her/his mind is sidetracked. In this particular case it also couldn't matter less that the husband is a baker, but it is somewhat relevant that the wife is a lawyer, though her occupation is not the point. So letting the reader know that the wife is a lawyer can and should be done differently. Because in this scene she is a wife first, and a lawyer second. Basically it is confusing and makes the reader think about things s/he is not supposed to.

The same thing applies to being taller/shorter older etc.. you can let the reader know that with other means if you want to, instead of just using it as placeholder for their names.

 

 

The same applies in fanfiction when you are talking about taller/shorter, older/younger.

 

First of all, your readers might not even *know* who is older or taller, had it not been specified before (and even if it had, they might have forgotten if age/height difference is not an important part of the story).

 

Sure in some cases it is pretty obvious, when you have a pairing like EXO's Chanyeol (185cm) and Kyungsoo (officially 1.73cm, but... yeah right lol).

 

But often writers do this for pairings like for example BTS's V (officially 179cm) and Jungkook (officially 178cm). If you are not a hard core fan, but just like BTS casually, you don't know (nor care) who is taller and it is confusing. Plus it is weird. In real life you would never ever call someone “the taller one” if the height difference is only 1-3cm, unless you are especially comparing heights or maybe you're 7 years old and proud to be 0.5cm taller than your friend.

 

I even read a story once with two idols, lets call them A and B (because it's not such a big pairing and my point is not to put anyone on the spot) who were referred to as the taller and shorter one, respectively.

Officially A is taller than B.

But that is just because A lied more on his profile. I actually saw them once compare heights on TV without shoes and they were about the same, if anything B was slightly taller.

So calling A the taller one didn't make any sense to me and was very confusing.

And basically if you need a tape measurer to see who is taller than the other one, they should NOT be referred to as the taller/shorter one.

 

Same applies for age. Often guys born in the same year are referred to as the older/younger one, and it's just very weird.

 

 

 

Rule of thumb: You should never refer to someone as "the taller one" unless his/her height it's directly relevant for the scene.

(Like for example if A is towering over B. Or if C asks D to fetch something on the top shelf. Otherwise, just don't do it.)

 

Same for age. If the age is not directly relevant for the scene: Don't call them the younger/older one.

(And never call anyone “the elder” unless he's 90 years old or a part of a council. Otherwise it gives the wrong mental image.)

 

 

Now, the same goes for things like the vocalist/rapper/dancer. If it's relevant for the scene, like if they are auditioning or practicing a song or whatever, you can use their titles. But it's weird to use it outside that scope. Like for example if you are writing a rated scene. There is no, and I repeat absolutely no reason to refer to them as vocalist/dancer. In fact that gives the impression that they are doing some weird dance moves during, or some strange vocal-practice-I-don't-even-know-what. So unless that's what you are going for (no kiink shaming intended), don't use their job titles as a placeholder for their names during rated scenes or any other scenes that don't have to do with their jobs. Just don't. It's very off-putting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What to do instead?

 

As a writer myself, I do realize where this problem comes from. If you are writing a story with two male leads the pronoun is always “he” and that can be confusing. But (and I know this might be crazy) instead of using these outlandish identifiers, how about using their names instead. I know. Revolutionary.

 

And you can always mix in things like, his: hyung/friend/husband/lover/boyfriend/class-mate etc. Because how people are connected is almost always related to the scene (while height for example is not).

 

Oh, and nobody ever refers to people as “the male” or “the female” unless it's some sort of a mating documentary. So don't do it. Use man/woman, boy/girl instead.

 

 

 

 

 

What if you don't agree with me?

 

Well, you don't have to.

But know that constantly calling someone “the taller one” throughout your story, does not make it better and it certainly doesn't make your story more classy. I am right. It really does not. 

 

However, if you still want to do it, that is completely up to you. I'm not the boss of you, and writing bad fanfictions is a perfectly valid life-choice. And the good thing is, many readers are used to this by now and don't really care. The more picky readers however will care, and this will reduce the quality of your story. But as long as you don't care, then it's fine.

 

But consider doing it maybe a little less? Only occasionally but not constantly throughout the story?

And please for your reader's sake consider only using taller/shorter when there is at least 4cm of height difference, and older/younger when there are at least 1-2 years (preferably more) between them. Please?