Pronouns substitute for nouns to avoid repetition: Ex. 'John put the book in his room' reads more smoothly than 'John put the book in John's room.' Unfortunately, your story will not read more smoothly if the pronoun's reference is unclear or vague.
Grammar Rule: A pronoun refers to the last noun preceding it (unless the gender or plurality of the preceding noun doesn't match).
'John put Fred's book in his room' does not mean the book is in John's room, it means the book is in Fred's room. 'John put Alice's book in his room' does mean the book in John's room because the antecedent noun must match in gender (it doesn't - Alice is probably a girl), so in this case 'his' refers to John's room. Clear as mud? Grammar Assignment #1: Read this paragraph again until you're nodding your head in agreement.
Funny mistakes: 'John promised to return Alice's books, so he took off his shoes, tiptoed into her room, and left them by her bed.' What did he leave by her bed? His shoes, of course, not her books. This example is slippery, because, while technically in error, most readers would still say he left her books because of the setup of the 'promise', but why chance any misunderstandings especially ones that will make some readers laugh. 'John promised to return Alice's books, so he took off his shoes, tiptoed into her room, and left the novels by her bed.' Easy to fix, right?
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One more thought: 'They','them', and 'it' don't have gender, but they do have plurality. 'The cat ran by the fence post and Tom hit it.' It refers to the fence post of course. 'The cat ran by the fence posts and Tom hit it' is different, because the plurality of post has changed making the sentence grammatically correct if we want to imply Tom was hitting the cat.
Problem: "Boys and girls drink, but they get in more trouble." In another version of the sentence, "Boys and girls drink and then they get in trouble' the 'they' means 'boys and girls' and is a plural reference, but that reasoning can't be true in the first highlighted sentence. The word 'more' means the writer is making a comparison, yet the sentence has only two nouns to compare 'boys' and 'girls' suggesting that one of those pluralities gets in 'more' trouble. This problem is called a Vague Reference and cannot be solved with what information the writer has given the reader. Readers are left scratching their heads which is bad for your story, so 'Boys and girls drink, but boys get in more trouble.' Is probably the fix you want.
Pronoun Assignment #2: Pick a section of your novel and say every pronoun out loud. After each pronoun is spoken, say the character or other noun it's supposed to refer to. Notice if there is another noun in between the pronoun and its proper referent. If there is, and the in-between noun has the same gender and plurality as the referent, you have a problem. Fix it. If you can't find the noun your pronoun is supposed to refer, to you may have a vague reference, see below. Repeat Pronoun Assignment #2 as often as you can until checking references for gender and plurality becomes automatic. If you're tired of checking your own work, try Pronoun Assignment #3 below.
More plurality thoughts: "She and I", a compound subject, is slower that "We." As a compound object, "me and her" is slower and more awkward than "us". "They" is better that "He, she, and I" though technically equivalent.
Rule: Use a plural pronoun over a compound group of pronouns.
Exception: In English? Get used to it, because there's always an exception. Here's an example from my mystery/thriller, Naked in New York, that must use the compound pronoun "you and I" as it's subject.
Ex."I don't think a few phone calls will interrupt us," Melody said. (Here 'us' refers to Melody and her boyfriend Victor). In the next sentence, Sally, my main character, says, "If Canada is great, you and I can plan a trip there next summer before college." The rule says to use 'we' not 'you and I', but with more than two possible references for 'we' the reader won't know if you mean Melody and Victor, or Melody and Sally, or all three of them, so use the compound subject is this case.
Real rule: Use common sense if the meaning could be unclear.
\If you do use multiple nouns and pronouns as subjects, be careful. "I and Fred went..." is wrong, but "Fred and I went..." is okay. Proper nouns first.
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Pronouns also can replace an 'understood' noun: Ex. It is too hot ('It' being understood to be the weather). The cheerleaders did their routine. She is too hot, I thought. This vague reference might be a grammar error, but could work in fiction if you're introducing a mystery concerning which character the speaker is referring to. All such mysteries must still have a later reveal that bookends this open-ended reference. Writing Rule: Mysteries in fiction must be paired with reveals. If they are, your readers will begin to trust you.
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I, me, you, it, who, which, and what are pronouns that do not require antecedents. Who thinks it's okay for me to ask what you think about which pronouns don't need antecedents? Don't answer, it's just an illustration of how common these pronouns are that we don't think about. In all of these cases, your meaning must be clear to the reader or it is termed a Vague Reference.
The worst and most common vague reference is beginning an new sentence with 'This'. Ex: "This is what you have to put up with most frequently." The solution is to add a word or phrase after 'This' that makes it clear to the reader what you mean. Ex: This common error is a vague pronoun and you have to put up with such confusion frequently in your reading.
Pronoun Assignment #3: I'll give your book chapter a priority read if you find and comment on any of these pronoun errors in a chapter of my mystery/thriller, Wasted in Waldport. I'll probably be reading your chapter anyway, but I make plenty of these mistakes myself and want to find them all, so I'll pay for your help in finding my errors with chapter reads. Happy sleuthing for my grammar errors.
