I’m doing these writing exercises (for myself) by writing a scene with three people in one room, some action has been committed, and I don’t reveil the names of any of the people until the very end of the scene. Two of which are stated as being male, the only differences described are their varying hair colors/styles and that one is in the middle of the room and the other is in the doorway. The third person is unknown, but they’ve been found laying on the ground and unmoving.

      At first it is assumed the person is dead, but a faint pulse has been found and they’re bleeding out into the ground. The person is laying on their side with the face turned away from the two other characters; thus, also unknown. So without using a single name, or stating the unknown’s gender, I’m describing the scene of the two men conversing and finding the bleeding person in this old abandoned house’s basement. Light is dim and unhelpful, and the two discern whether the person is dead or not. Without using “They” to describe the person and without giving them a pronoun (I want the person to be a surprise) I write the entire scene making the differences between the two men (so you know which man is doing what) and describing the person in the room. Using gender neutral speech .. is so fricken hard. “The person..” is used SO many times. I hate being repetitive but.. god.. I refuse to use the plural neutral pronoun on ONE person. At least in this scene. » 

OCD writer.. »