Thread: Too many Hes and shes.

I tend to start my sentences with he, she or a name. I can't find any resources to show me how to avoid this. If anyone has overcome this problem your help would be appreciated. Thanks.

The only way to avoid referring to someone is through passive voice, and that it's overuse is discouraged. Maybe you could post a fragment of whatever you are having trouble with, I might be able to point out what's wrong. If I may make a rough guess, you may be using too many short sentences.

It's a pretty easy trap to fall into. Ask yourself what the character is doing, or what is happening to them. Start with that instead.

"Bright sunlight shone hard against Lone Poke's weathered eyelids. This was going to be one hot day."

This part is where I'm taking the most heat.
“Matty, I am serious. I nearly drowned and I am bigger than you.”
Matty took this as a challenge and hastened his steps to prove his courage. Elijah weighed if he should go back and force his friend ashore. The answer was obvious; he just did not like it. Elijah growled like a bear cub and headed back toward the middle. The younger boy knew what Elijah was up to. It would be humiliating to be rescued in this way. He turned with the current so it would hurry him down stream and the chaser was now the chasee. They had to lean back against the current with their feet out in front to keep from being thrown head-long. Elijah lengthened his strides, letting the water carry him a little after each step. He quickly closed in on his friend. Matty turned as best he could and saw Elijah’s method.

Adding on to Karl's comment: Try making the action of the sentence the subject with a gerund - a verb ending in -ing.

Paul gets up early every morning and runs five miles. He likes to run. Running is good exercise. Paul hopes to compete in the Olympics one day.

The third sentence begins with a gerund instead of a personal noun or pronoun. Placed where it is, it breaks up the monotony of the other three sentences.

Another thing I did there was to drop the subject and combine the dependent clause "runs five miles" with the previous sentence. I say the same thing, but I used one less subject.

I don't feel you are overusing hes and shes, to be quite honest. Maybe you are over thinking things too much; its normal to have many of those when you are narrating character actions because you must refer who you are talking about, otherwise it would get confusing.

Thanks for the help. Feeling back on track.

I'm with elite on this. Your writing reads good to me.

While the -ing verbs have their uses, they are the weakest of the verb forms. Use with care.

Don't worry too much about this. I've gotten criticism a couple of times on the "he's and she's" thing before -- and I did what I usually do -- I went straight to my collection of favorite authors to see how they handled it. Right off the bat, I came across a a paragraph in a Raymond Carver story where every sentence started with "she." Wouldn't have noticed it had I not been looking for it. Same deal with a Hemming way short -- not as many as in the Carver story, but at least as many as in mine. I really haven't given it much thought since.