I WAS RAISED FERAL

i am by no means an expert but! i see people down on themselves for various parts of their writing and i figured i could make a little post with suggestions. particularly how to bring the two together. 

UNIQUE DIALOGUE: 

slang is, for me,  one of the most important parts about figuring out your muses voice.  figuring out if they use any,  which ones and when. for example: “i aint gonna do that” vs “i’m not gonna do that.” and even just from that sentence, are they even the type of person to say “gonna” or do they tend to say “going to.”  figuring out how they use contractions is helpful  (i.e. “i’m not gonna do that” vs “i am not gonna do that” for inflection). 

the next thing, pay attention to filler words. they can honestly make the difference between wooden and natural dialogue.  “um” “uh” “like” “so” “well” etc. it can also be phrases “i mean” “i guess” plus combining more than one kind of filler “um well” “so like” etc. 

now if your muse is an oc i strongly recommend drawing inspiration from your faceclaim’s speech patterns. if there is a specific piece of their media which feels the most like the muse, watch it and pay attention to how the FC talks. the same will go for deciding mannerisms for your descriptions. if you don’t vibe with the faceclaim’s speech patterns, try finding someone who does and have a voice claim in mind!

DESCRIBING DIALOGUE: 

describing how your muse is speaking can strengthen dialogue as well as better help your writing partner know how their muse will respond to it. obviously we all know adjectives are helpful with this “he said dryly” “she said hesitantly” etc. but if you add some small mannerisms into it, i find it enriches the paragraph.  “he says dryly, shaking his head a little”  “she says hesitantly.  the corner of her lips twitch into a nervous smile.”  

figure out if they smile when they talk. if they furrow their brows while they’re putting words to a thought. do they look down or up when thinking? do they tend to look directly at someone when talking, or do their eyes shift around a little? if they do like to look away when talking that’s when you can take time to decide what they’re looking at and add little bits in there:  “he says dryly,  glancing away with a shake of his head.  his eyes settle across the street,  absentmindedly watching a dog sniff at the base of a tree.”  

describing their voice also adds some pizzazz. ‘his voice is a low timbre when he speaks,  a firmness in the words “well, i aint gonna do that.”  he shakes his head,  the muscle in his jaw flexing.’ 

GETTING STUCK:

if you find yourself staring at a reply having no idea what to add for dialogue, i’ve found sometimes it’s because you haven’t figured out how your muse feels about what’s going on. it’s okay to take time to examine what their internal thought process would be. and it’s even more okay if they themselves don’t know how to feel or what to say. this is an excellent time to remember filler words because it’s what we do in real life. when you add the mannerisms with them struggling to find words it can bring it all together.  

decide how they look when they’re thinking. bring out those little actions they might do while they’re fumbling for the dialogue. what type of words are they looking for?  something appropriate, something funny to lighten the mood, something direct, or deflective?  “he shakes his head a little,  brows furrowing as he searches for an adequate response. ‘shit, uh…well.’  his voice trails off,  softer than usual. ‘i dunno what to say,  man.  honestly.’” 

CHARACTER TALENT & SKILLS