Can we talk about how I was writing dialogue all wrong for 3 years?

I was doing a short story for a local contest last month and a friend read my first draft. She pointed out that every character talked exactly like me, using the same phrases and rhythm. I thought I was being consistent but I was just being lazy with my voice work. Has anyone else had that moment where you realize your characters are just copies of yourself?

2 comments

2 Comments

carter.hugo9d ago

Wait, hold on - three years? That's wild to me (and also kind of impressive in a weird way). I had that slap-in-the-face moment about six months into my first novel attempt, so I can only imagine what it felt like to realize you'd been doing it that long. My big giveaway was that every single one of my characters used the same sarcastic comeback for everything, like they were all taking turns being me in a bad mood. It's super jarring when you catch it, but honestly it's such a normal trap to fall into, especially when you're writing fast and not paying attention to the small stuff like word choices and sentence flow.

fisher.taylor9d ago

Man, that hits close to home. I once spent a whole year writing a story where every character explained their feelings in these long, rambling paragraphs because that's how I process stuff. Took me way too long to realize they all sounded exactly like me having a quiet panic attack.