My process kind of varies. Sometimes I think it’s like what you do, where I try to figure out a character's personality and then try to adapt their dialogue to that. Like one time I wrote a series of scenes where a character reacts to something, and from that I figured out that he rambles when he gets nervous. In contrast, another character gets quieter when he's nervous, or, if he does talk, he tries to use only the words he needs to get his point across.
With the characters in my serial, I noticed some talk more casually in general except when they have to be formal, some talk more formally as a matter of course and sound a bit more like an academic paper--using fewer or no contractions in their speech--and some are very careful to adapt their way of speaking to different environments or situations. For example, they might talk more casually with their friends unless they’re discussing something official, at which point they might sound more formal, and they might be more formal with people they don’t know, especially when discussing something official.
Looking at that, I guess personality, environment, education, interests, and backstory (especially how people have reacted to them talking in the past) all tie in to how a character talks, so maybe knowing those things will help the dialogue come out more strongly. Although another side to that is I’ve noticed in real life sometimes people vary their ways of talking because they’re adapting to different situations, they’ve picked up on the speech patterns or turns of phrase of the people around them, or just because that’s how their words came out. So maybe characters don’t always need to sound exactly like themselves. Maybe sometimes they do sound like the people they’re closest to. What do you think?
I agree with everything you said. There are so many things that shape the way people talk, and like you said, no one talks the same way in every situation. It's important to have that in the back of your mind.
I also love the fact that sometimes we might have a vision of how a character talks, but they'll talk/behave differently when we start writing. I used to rewrite those scenes, because I thought they were behaving outside of their nature, but now I embrace it and see it as how the character actually would have reacted in that situation.
And I love that too. It's special when a character "takes on a life of their own," including having their own voice/behavior that's different from what we thought. I used to think one of my main characters (the one who gets rambly when he's nervous) was too much of a quiet, thinking type to talk so much like that, but then I realized he actually was both. I'm glad you embrace when a character comes out different than you thought. I think that can feel more natural?
And I guess that's another important thing to remember--real people's personalities are multi-faceted, so characters' personalities can be too. Thank you for the insight you've given me!
Thank you for the great tips! Giving a character his or her own voice feels like the most difficult part to me.
Yes, it is difficult 😕 Do you have a process for that? I usually do freewriting on each character to shape their personality.
My process kind of varies. Sometimes I think it’s like what you do, where I try to figure out a character's personality and then try to adapt their dialogue to that. Like one time I wrote a series of scenes where a character reacts to something, and from that I figured out that he rambles when he gets nervous. In contrast, another character gets quieter when he's nervous, or, if he does talk, he tries to use only the words he needs to get his point across.
With the characters in my serial, I noticed some talk more casually in general except when they have to be formal, some talk more formally as a matter of course and sound a bit more like an academic paper--using fewer or no contractions in their speech--and some are very careful to adapt their way of speaking to different environments or situations. For example, they might talk more casually with their friends unless they’re discussing something official, at which point they might sound more formal, and they might be more formal with people they don’t know, especially when discussing something official.
Looking at that, I guess personality, environment, education, interests, and backstory (especially how people have reacted to them talking in the past) all tie in to how a character talks, so maybe knowing those things will help the dialogue come out more strongly. Although another side to that is I’ve noticed in real life sometimes people vary their ways of talking because they’re adapting to different situations, they’ve picked up on the speech patterns or turns of phrase of the people around them, or just because that’s how their words came out. So maybe characters don’t always need to sound exactly like themselves. Maybe sometimes they do sound like the people they’re closest to. What do you think?
And thank you for reading my long reply!
Love the reply!
I agree with everything you said. There are so many things that shape the way people talk, and like you said, no one talks the same way in every situation. It's important to have that in the back of your mind.
I also love the fact that sometimes we might have a vision of how a character talks, but they'll talk/behave differently when we start writing. I used to rewrite those scenes, because I thought they were behaving outside of their nature, but now I embrace it and see it as how the character actually would have reacted in that situation.
Thank you!
And I love that too. It's special when a character "takes on a life of their own," including having their own voice/behavior that's different from what we thought. I used to think one of my main characters (the one who gets rambly when he's nervous) was too much of a quiet, thinking type to talk so much like that, but then I realized he actually was both. I'm glad you embrace when a character comes out different than you thought. I think that can feel more natural?
Yes, it feels more natural, and the character becomes three-dimensional.
I like that you found out that your character is a mix of both, because people aren't just one type in real life. He sounds more real this way.
Thank you! I hope he'll feel real to readers.
And I guess that's another important thing to remember--real people's personalities are multi-faceted, so characters' personalities can be too. Thank you for the insight you've given me!