Reading this book and the main male is Dane and we just met a minor character named Dean.

WHY THE FUCK??

and now they are in conversation with 2 others so its Dean said blah blah blah. Dane replied blah blah blah.

yes I know it could happen in RL but for fucks sake why would you try to confuse your readers.

it's not like its even Dane/Doug. Dane/Dean use all the same exact letters.

it's annoying for certain

I imagine writing it would be just as annoying. Who knows what the author was thinking

bet they thought it was hecka clever

took a long time to write because of how often they had to pay themselves on the back.

it's annoying and unnecessary