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Got told my characters all sounded the same and it stung but they were right
Someone on here read my first 3 chapters and said every character had the exact same voice. I argued at first, but then I recorded myself reading the dialogue aloud and yeah, they were right. My main character and the bartender both said 'well, what do you expect' in the same scene. How do you folks manage to give each person their own way of talking without it feeling forced?
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barbara96718d ago
Yeah, that bit about knowing who they are before they talk really hits home. I had the same problem with random characters all using 'honestly' to start sentences, and once I noticed it I couldn't unsee it. So I started stealing little things from people I know, like my buddy who says 'sure thing' for everything compared to my sister who answers questions with a grunt. @mitchell.mark got it right, it's more about picking one or two speech quirks early on and just sticking to them. Feels way less forced than trying to reinvent every line from scratch.
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You're overthinking it a bit. The trick isn't about forcing different speech patterns, it's about knowing who each character is before they open their mouth. Pick one or two things for each person, like a favorite word or a habit of asking questions instead of stating things, and let that guide you naturally. The rest of their voice will come from their backstory and what they want in that scene.
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