#tipsandprompts

The clothes they choose. If your character always wears the same thing—why? Are they obsessed with routine? Stuck in comfort? Adverse to change? If they wear sweatpants or tank-tops, do they value comfort over fashion? Is their clothing practical? Obnoxious? What are they planning to do that day? Would they keep that in mind when choosing an outfit? Are they used to choosing their own outfits, or has someone always chosen for them?

Body language. Are they always relaxed? Tense? Uncomfortable? Does it change if they're in a familiar location? What about a new one? Are they constantly looking around, anxious or prepared or paranoid? Or are they concentrated on what they're doing and letting everyone else be? And is this who they are in general, or have they been conditioned to react as such? To always be on-edge, or to always act as though you're ignored?

Makeup/hair. Do they take pride in their appearance? Do they care? If they spend a lot of time on their hair and/or makeup, is it for them, or are they paranoid of how they're perceived? If they don't even bother with a brush—why? Are they depressed, or do they genuinely not care about what other people see/think? Do they have bigger things to worry about? Are they constantly checking their appearance throughout the day? Do they know when they have stains on their outfit? If they do have an updo for their hair or a face of makeup—how good is it? Is it practiced and perfect? Have they been doing it for years? Have they always been worried about what others think of them, or did it originally start for them and slowly turn into anxiety over their self-image? Or is their hair/makeup a bit shaky, a bit shoddy? Is this a new project for your character? Is this new routine the result of a new insecurity?

How they act around kids and animals. Do they ignore them? Tease/make fun of them? Act cruelly? Are they a natural? Do they care? Are they uncomfortable? Why do they act the way they do? Did something happen in their past? Is it who they are? How do other characters react when they see this interaction? Is it unexpected? Out of character? Why or why not? Have there been previous clues/hints about how they'd react to a child or animal? Is their behavior completely contradictory to those clues?

Let your characters mess up. People stumble over their words, stutter, take things back, forget what they were going to say—all of it. Unless it's a distinctive part of who they are, don't make your character have perfect speech and grammar all the time. Let them be awkward during awkward conversations, let them be so upset they can't find the words to curse someone out, let them be so happy and talk so quickly other character's can't discern what they're saying.

Let your characters interrupt each other. Conversations usually aren't one person talks, then another, and then back to the first person. People interrupt each other (intentionally or not), topics change quickly, and sometimes people go into a conversation intent on discussing something and then get side-tracked by something else entirely. Conversations don't have to come to a neat conclusion one-hundred percent of the time.

Let your characters talk around what they're trying to say. Most of the time, people aren't one-hundred percent honest. They allude to the subject or what they want, but they don't say it outright. Someone doesn't often say "I'm angry," but rather their tone is harsh and their words are worse.

Of course, these aren't "end all, be all." If your dialogue still sounds a bit off, you could try the following:

Read your dialogue aloud and see what flows and what doesn't. Reading dialogue in your mind can be helpful, but reading it out loud lets you hear how it comes across. If you find yourself tripping over a sentence or catching an awkwardly-placed word, you can revise so your dialogue takes on a smoother quality. Plus, when you're reading it aloud, it might be helpful to also talk through some alternatives you could write instead. Because you're already speaking them, you'll get a feel for how they work before they're on the page.

Listen to how real people talk. The best way to imitate how real people talk is to experience it. While you're out in public, keep your ears tuned. How do people interact with one another? How do conversations change based on their dynamics or surroundings? What words do they use, how often do they switch the topic or stumble over their sentences or pause as they gather their thoughts? How could your characters mimic this?

What works best for me is a notebook and a pen, but of course you can use your computer or whatever else works best for you when writing. Take your character of interest and start by listing off the base facts you know about them: their name, their age, their roughly-fleshed-out backstory, anything. And then, once you hit a roadblock, start asking them questions. Who are you? Why do you want what you want? If you see a possibility, explore it. Write it down, follow that path, and if you hit another block, go back to the start. Or maybe there was an off-trail you didn’t see the first time on the way. Whatever it is, keep going. Set a limit for yourself—write for five minutes, ten minutes, fill up two notebook pages, whatever. Write down your train of thought, whatever comes to mind in relation to this character, even if it seems like a stretch. You’ll unlock something about your character, something you can use.