𝖶𝗋𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖳𝗂𝗉𝗌 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖫𝗈𝗌𝖾𝗋𝗌

𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭

Would you refer to your best friend as "the redhead" or "Kristen"? Is your favorite teacher "the teacher" or "Mr. Small"? An epithet is an adjective or descriptive phrase used to refer to a person. Referring to a character by a trait or their title is called an "amateur mistake" when used incorrectly, but "good perspective writing" when used well. What makes title of epithet a mistake is when it creates a sense of distance that doesn't make sense given the narrator's perspective.
These three sentences are written using different methods of reference, and the method is very telling of how the narrator perceives things.

"The doctor waved to the nurse as she passed him in the hallway."

This reads as very impersonal, like the narrator doesn't know either of these characters. This is the kind of sentence I'd expect from a narrator who just met those two people, or never met them and is just observing some hospital interaction.

"Dr. Martinez waved to Nurse Merther as she passed him in the hallway."

Now the narrator is familiar with these characters, just not close enough to use a first name. Maybe they don't know it, maybe they prefer to be professional with medical personnel, or perhaps they're a colleague who doesn't choose to socialize with either of those people.

"Angela waved to David as she passed him in the hallway."

The narrator clearly knows these two people well enough to drop any formality at all. Perhaps the narrator is a close friend, a social colleague, or just a rude patient who somehow figured out all the names of the hospital staff.

The point is, the method of reference can show perspective and creates distance when used incorrectly. A narrator familiar with a character almost always uses the character's name unless the situation is one where there is a power difference or there's a good reason for it. You don't think of your best friend as "the (hair color)" and wouldn't refer to them like that, so you narrator isn't going to do that to their best friend either. If they do, it often sounds odd and distances the reader.
Now, the line does get fuzzy when a narrator is omniscient 3rd person, but that still ties into the idea of perspective. How the narrator refers to someone shows what they think of the person. This can be used to show growing familiarity: perhaps "the doctor" becomes "Dr. Martinez" after a nice conversation, then becomes "Angela" when the narrator really gets to know her.
"Show, don't tell" is often used to describe character action, but it applies just as much to perceptive. Instead of narrating how much someone likes their doctor, perhaps opt to use a less formal character reference in scenes. Consistent perspective is the mark of good writing and often a good story. Swapping out ways to refer to characters because you think your writing is repetitive has two outcomes:

1. The writing is fine and the pronoun/name use is a non-issue.
2. The writing is repetitive, and in that case you're only creating a different problem by swapping pronouns and names for something else. The solution is to work on the repetitiveness of the writing rather than trying to patch it up with nicknames or other ways to refer to people. That "solution" is only creating an additional problem because the underlying writing is still receptive and now your narrator suddenly seems to have forgotten their friend's name.

Unnecessary use of titles, epithets, and monikers are a telltale sign of a novice writer. They don't exist to "spice up" writing or fix an issue of receptiveness– they're for showing the reader how the narrator thinks of the character, the level of respect, and personal distance via word choice. Much like many aspects of improving at writing, learning why something is an issue is key to becoming more effective at the craft.

𝐜𝐫; 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐝