Have you read a story about the X-Men?

In "due South" slash, for example, there are the Mountie, the detective, the dark-haired man, the blond man, the Canadian, the American, the Polish-American, the taller man, the older man, the confused man, the bored man, and the man who's going to stop reading this story because suddenly there are too many characters!

There are two men. Fraser and Ray. Fraser and Kowalski. Ben and Ray. That's all.

Unless it's a pairing like Jim/Blair, I stop and wonder a) which one's taller and b) how you can be sure that one's older? There should be an obvious gap in inches or years if you're using those distinctions. Jim is noticeably taller than Blair, and older. Fraser and Ray K. are too close for either to be characterized along those lines, sorry. Don't get me started on other fandoms.

Try using their names. We know their names. We're comfortable with their names. We even like their names.

We know that Ray K. is blond and Fraser is a Mountie. Either assume the knowledge or find another way to tell us.

- C. Miller