i often hear people talk about giving people unique way of speaking, but how exactly do you do that?
⦠do you mean characters? iām assuming you mean characters.
some of it is in context, not the charactersā actual speech. you can comment in narration how someoneās voice is rich and deep or light and tinkling or rough and loud or soft and soothing, etc. etc.Ā it helps form specific voices in the readersā heads.Ā i mean, yeah, anyoneās voice can be any of those things at different times but some peopleās voices are always soft, or always tinkling, or always rough.
in speech, people have quirks. some people stammer more than others (ādo youā er, would youā i meanā could i trouble you forā¦?ā). some have more tendency than others to repeat themselves. everyone has a few words or phrases they say too often, usually unintentionally (a few of my own areĀ āawfulā andĀ ākind ofāĀ andĀ āoh my godā). most people have a few catchphrases, which areĀ said intentionally (likeĀ āthats right, folksā orĀ āserves you rightā). some people have greater tendency to ramble, some put in a lot of unnecessary words and explanations (āthere was this one time when i went out to this houseā it was my friendās house, who i met in high school, weāve been friends for a very long timeābut yeah, so when i went to his houseā¦ā). some are concise (āonce, i went to an old friendās house andā¦ā). some like to swear (āaw, fuck, man, let me tell you about this one goddamned houseā). some are eloquent (āwhat an atrocityā versusĀ āthis is terribleā).
and there are a lot of other factors that go into unique speech but it helps if youĀ yourself can really hear it in your charactersā unique voices.