Altered speech patterns for different characters?

[TheExperimentalist]

Everyone has different dialects, verbal tics, and go-to phrases they tend to fall back on. Some people will naturally use higher-register language. Others will speak far less formally. Some use a lot of idioms and colloquialisms, others very few. Some people are very direct and literal, others speak largely in implication and reference. None of that, other than my own general method of speaking, comes naturally to me.

I'm not talking about quirky, gimmicky, over-the-top catchphrases or other character idiosyncrasies that feel forced, but I do wish I had the skill to write characters whose speech patterns differed a bit more from mine. I find it extremely difficult to put myself into a different speech pattern enough to write a character that doesn't sound like a different version of me. For instance, if I wanted to write a dudebro, I'd probably try to write something like "hit me up if you wanna do the whole helping me talk like another person thing, ya feel me, dawg?" but... that feels neither natural nor maintainable over multiple lines of dialogue.

Does anyone have any techniques they use to get into a different character's verbal style? One idea I could imagine would be to base characters' speech patterns on those of people I know, but I have many reasons to feel uncomfortable doing so. So, what other advice might exist? Thanks.

 

[BeechLeaf]

I find this a big problem. I probably couldn't write someone with a significantly different dialect, but even among people rather like me, I want some but not all of them to use 'gosh', others to repeatedly use phatic 'I mean', some to break off and rephrase things more often, more nervously.

Ideally I would like my analysis program to be able to assign speeches to speakers, so that I could report on them and actually count how many say 'gosh', get their average sentence length, and so on.

 

[crookedletter]

I'm not talking about quirky, gimmicky, over-the-top catchphrases or other character idiosyncrasies that feel forced, but I do wish I had the skill to write characters whose speech patterns differed a bit more from mine.

I think this is a fine line with this issue. I would say subtlety is the key. I'm not sure I achieve anything like this myself, but I would lean on the characters' personalities coming through in the way they speak, which should happen to some degree naturally if you sufficiently know your characters, rather than trying to establish their personality by inserting tics and tendencies into their dialogue. A subtle distinction, maybe, but I think an important one.

It should be more What would she say in this situation? than What can I have her say that makes her come across as... etc.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Does anyone have any techniques they use to get into a different character's verbal style?

I recently published an article that you might want to review on "How to Choose Dialogue Tags". It speaks to how selecting the right dialogue tags can influence the way that a character's words are received by readers.

In some of my works, I have employed phonetically-spelled dialogue to distinguish cultural differences between characters, similar to how Winston Groom wrote Forrest Gump. Not all readers can comprehend such writing, so be prepared for push-back.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I didn't feel I had a problem switching between the excitable-at-seeing-a-naked-a-boob Frat boys and the 40 something Temptress Mom of one of them.


Dudes all used similar slang while Mom used more refined but slutty language.

 

[ADirtyPerv]

I'm reading The Old Man and the Sea and both the old man and the boy sound like each other, and they both just sound like Hemingway. But that's okay, it's how he writes.

It bugs me when I do it, though. I feel like they should be more distinct; you shouldn't be able to change the name of the person in the dialogue tag and it make just as much sense. But if you make them too unique, it feels gimmicky.

My greatest success in this area was with a quiet, burly (probably on the spectrum) guy and his overly-inquisitive, talkative little sister. They contrasted without feeling too gimmicky somehow.

 

[redgarters]

I've accepted that as a non-native english writer I'm reduced to all my characters probably sounding very similar. I still try to adhere to the basic differences between US and UK English and that's been overall good I think (although I still make mistakes). With regional accents I try to look up and insert local speech patterns or colloquialisms here and there to give hints of a 'flavour', rather than try to write the whole thing in a dialect. I'll sprinkle y'all' into a southern US character's speech, an 'oi, mate' into a London one, and a cheeky 'for sure' into a North Dakota girl's conversation. It goes a long way to build character background without ruining the story with me writing out dialects I don't really know anything about.

For a deep dive into how to research different English dialects and how to write them well, @THBGato is the one to ask, I think.

 

[Voboy]

I relate this to the "do we have empathy for our characters" thread.

If you like your characters, and if you feel them as people of their own, rather than as figments of your imagination, then in my experience the verbal stuff will take care of itself: you'll make a more somber character speak with a slower, more deliberate tone. Your flighty, bubbly characters will just sorta find themselves talking like Valley Girls, and so forth.

I find it really easy to do. I think it's a function of having met/known many kinds of people from many parts of the world; you just get a "knack" for the ways that different kinds of people use language. Our role as writers is simply to chronicle that.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

I think this is a fine line with this issue. I would say subtlety is the key. I'm not sure I achieve anything like this myself, but I would lean on the characters' personalities coming through in the way they speak, which should happen to some degree naturally if you sufficiently know your characters, rather than trying to establish their personality by inserting tics and tendencies into their dialogue. A subtle distinction, maybe, but I think an important one.

It should be more What would she say in this situation? than What can I have her say that makes her come across as... etc.

This is already something I do, and it helps, certainly, but I still find the characters saying the thing they would say in that situation using the specific words that would come most easily to me in that situation. I guess what I'm saying is that the MESSAGE is coming from them, but the specific WORDS are still kinda just... me, and I want them to be a little more varied.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

I relate this to the "do we have empathy for our characters" thread.

If you like your characters, and if you feel them as people of their own, rather than as figments of your imagination, then in my experience the verbal stuff will take care of itself: you'll make a more somber character speak with a slower, more deliberate tone. Your flighty, bubbly characters will just sorta find themselves talking like Valley Girls, and so forth.

I find it really easy to do. I think it's a function of having met/known many kinds of people from many parts of the world; you just get a "knack" for different kinds of people use language. Our role as writers is simply to chronicle that.

Yep. This was largely inspired by the empathy thread, as well as the how to give characters personality thread.

I guess, being a largely untraveled introvert, I find myself at something of a disadvantage in that regard. I've met a lot of people, but very few have I known well or deeply.

 

[ADirtyPerv]

I'll sprinkle y'all' into a southern US character's speech

So there are plenty of places even in California where a "y'all" works totally fine. The central valley of California is packed full of farmers who copy everything the South ever did, aside from owning humans. They then scatter all over the place; I've heard "y'all" in a board meeting, spoken by a CEO in a full suit and tie. Took me out of myself for a minute until I looked him up; born in Fresno, son of a farmer. But anyway. Just thought I'd share.

 

[stickygirl]

More than empathy - you have to have had some affection for a real world character, that you can tune into and then replay in your head. I suspect this isn't a technique everyone can use, but I grew up around different accents so I adsorbed it.
In choosing dudebro you've jumped into the deep end as far as I'm concerned, because I'm not familiar with it, beyond watching US tv programs. I find rap language pretty inaccessible - but it might be easier to you.

More than anything else, word order is critical and then grammar. Using "y'all" and "ya canna reverse the anta-matta flow. Sheez doin warp ate as it is captin" gets tired pretty quickly.

I had a crush on a Polish girl and became fixated on how she spoke English - she appears as a MC in one of my stories. In place of "I think you're a complicated person" or even "Your personality is pretty complex" she says "I think you are complicate person".

The same character says this "Just now, when I am going below I notice, well I hear the noise of your cabin door banging. I go to close the door, but also I look inside and I cannot see Paul. It was dark, so I put on the light and no, he is not there." We understand what she means in both cases, but it's delightfully incorrect.

Underplay the language difference - don't make it complicated. The key to success is being able to hear their voice in my head and simply scribe it. If it doesn't come easily then listen to some dudebro rap and make notes - it only takes a few examples to point the reader towards accent, then keep it simple.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Yep. This was largely inspired by the empathy thread, as well as the how to give characters personality thread.

I guess, being a largely untraveled introvert, I find myself at something of a disadvantage in that regard. I've met a lot of people, but very few have I known well or deeply.

I think some of your characters can tell you this for themselves. I have a character who was raised Catholic. I'm not sure it's come up in the story. Might have! Might not. It's not important. But it's a thing I know about her. I have another character who wasn't raised in a religious household. He says Jesus Christ! and goddamn; she doesn't. Small differentiator, but one that I, at least, notice when I'm writing her. That just comes from her background.

I've got another character I'm working on who, in her first appearance, answered the phone and made the person she was talking to lower the volume. Don't know why that happened. But it did, so I try using more exclamation points with her than with other characters.

stickygirl's idea of simply transcribing the voice in your head is basically what works for me, and that voice comes from a whole picture of the character, for me.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

In choosing dudebro you've jumped into the deep end as far as I'm concerned, because I'm not familiar with it, beyond watching US tv programs. I find rap language pretty inaccessible - but it might be easier to you.

I'm not actually going for dudebro specifically, it was just an example of the farthest thing from my own speech style that I could think of. I doubt I'll ever have a dudebro end up in any of my stories, certainly not as a main character, maybe as like an asshole ex-boyfriend with no more than a handful of lines, but that's not the point. I'm more interested in general techniques for creating a differing sense of character. Your example about how to do a nonnative English speaker is a great one (and I do have a mostly-stalled-for-the-moment WIP with a Romanian love interest), but as for native speakers of different dialect, background, and type... I guess it's just the same but less overt?

 

[Gamblnluck]

I try to do something slightly different. Like in one of my stories where a character was a lawyer. I had her (or tried) talk with better grammar when discussing things with clients. At home she used more vernacular speech, like she was being laid back. Dialect can be very hard to follow sometimes.

 

[stickygirl]

I'm not actually going for dudebro specifically, it was just an example of the farthest thing from my own speech style that I could think of. I doubt I'll ever have a dudebro end up in any of my stories, certainly not as a main character, maybe as like an asshole ex-boyfriend with no more than a handful of lines, but that's not the point. I'm more interested in general techniques for creating a differing sense of character. Your example about how to do a nonnative English speaker is a great one (and I do have a mostly-stalled-for-the-moment WIP with a Romanian love interest), but as for native speakers of different dialect, background, and type... I guess it's just the same but less overt?

The Romanian language is a derivative of Latin/Italian, but Polish is more "foreign" in its construction, with formal and informal pronouns: almost impossible to learn.
I knew a Romanian woman and her English was pretty good, but her attitude and how she carried herself was typically Italian: upright posture, a bit scornful.. not sure if that helps.

 

[Voboy]

I think some of your characters can tell you this for themselves. I have a character who was raised Catholic. I'm not sure it's come up in the story. Might have! Might not. It's not important. But it's a thing I know about her. I have another character who wasn't raised in a religious household. He says Jesus Christ! and goddamn; she doesn't. Small differentiator, but one that I, at least, notice when I'm writing her. That just comes from her background.

This is important. Think of it as a way to differentiate your characters and/or deepen their personalities. A big one for me is the use of "cock" and "cunt," which aren't generally words that I grew up saying; I view them as extremely crude. So if I have a narrator who sees them that way, he or she will have a definite reaction when another character uses those terms, especially with impunity.

The reader then gets a better sense of the narrator's personality, and also of the speaker's. It's also a chance to get meta, because at the same time I can convey the narrator's judgement of the speaker.

That's how a simple conversational exchange can play a role in making your characters into actual people. Show, don't tell.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm not actually going for dudebro specifically, it was just an example of the farthest thing from my own speech style that I could think of. I doubt I'll ever have a dudebro end up in any of my stories, certainly not as a main character, maybe as like an asshole ex-boyfriend with no more than a handful of lines, but that's not the point. I'm more interested in general techniques for creating a differing sense of character. Your example about how to do a nonnative English speaker is a great one (and I do have a mostly-stalled-for-the-moment WIP with a Romanian love interest), but as for native speakers of different dialect, background, and type... I guess it's just the same but less overt?

One option is to start with the stereotype and then dial it back about 50%.

As Sticky suggests, although we tend to think of Romanian as "Eastern European" it's quite a different language from Slavic languages like Russian and Polish, so a Romanian speaking bad English will not have the same quirks as a Russian speaking bad English. If you don't know somebody from the relevant background IRL, finding stuff like interviews on YouTube can help.

 

[THBGato]

Does anyone have any techniques they use to get into a different character's verbal style? One idea I could imagine would be to base characters' speech patterns on those of people I know, but I have many reasons to feel uncomfortable doing so. So, what other advice might exist? Thanks.

I do this a lot. It's not always well received, mind you... though it often generates comments. Using dialect-specific vocabulary usually goes down better with readers than writing in an accent.

In terms of tips:
1. Do your research
2. Get expert help. I had an Irish colleague check my Irish English in The Parting Glass and @Cagivagurl beta-read What a difference a day makes, massively improving my Kiwi English as a result
3. Think of terms of phrases as well as words
4. Knowing the character's background is key. That helps tell you how they speak
5. Finally, don't given a side-character an annoying verbal tic unless you are 100% sure they won't become the MC of their own 87,000 word novel.

 

[Britva415]

that feels neither natural nor maintainable over multiple lines of dialogue

It doesn't have to be maintained very long. Just a little "reminder" now and then is sufficient.

That is, as long as you don't lapse into making the dudebro say something he wouldn't ever say, in a way he wouldn't ever say it. That should probably be maintained. But it's a lot less hard. And, honestly, less intrusive for the reader, too.

 

[BeechLeaf]

English person here. It is painfully common for outsiders to think 'I know what an English accent/dialect is, I've often heard it'. So everyone from the Prince of Wales to a Dick Van Dyke dustman/chimney-sweep uses 'English' quirks like 'I say, old chap, jolly good, pip pip, what?' and 'Gor blimey, guvnor, innit?'

If you're really going outside your dialect familiarity, get help from a native.

 

[Britva415]

More than empathy - you have to have had some affection for a real world character

I'm not sure I agree, to the extent that this sounds like you simply couldn't do it at all for a character who isn't affectionable. Which, of course authors can do.

 

[NuclearFairy]

I once wrote a character that would speak in short, near monosyllabic replies, until he actually had to impart information, and then it was a quick, wtf are full stops, and who needs to breath, burst. It was actually pretty fun to write.

I've got another character, who subconsciously adapts her own speaking patterns to whoever she's speaking with. That one is a little more tiring to write, because I gotta keep track of how the people she's speaking with would speak, and how she would not quite match it at the same time.

Generally though, I get into my character's head, figure out their language exposure level, and if they have decided to grow beyond that, or adapt themselves to something else. Is this someone who speaks more simply, more elegantly, more coarsely. Is this someone who is in such a hurry to get their thoughts out that they're dropping words? What sort of misunderstandings might that cause? How well does my speaker listen to those around them? How hard do they try to be understood?

As far as adapting their dialect, instead of trying to go for a certain region, I usually think back on the books I read as a teen and try to decide which time period I want to pull from as well. 1960s Alaska, 1876 Midwest, 1980s England, 1880s Canada. Or somewhere and somewhen else?

But, that's only for my pure fantasy. For my urban stuff there tends to be fewer people involved and so I don't think about it as much.

 

[stickygirl]

I'm not sure I agree, to the extent that this sounds like you simply couldn't do it at all for a character who isn't affectionable. Which, of course authors can do.

There's any number of movie anti-heroes we love to hate - I'd regard that as affection.
Affectionable?
Pistols at dawn!

 

[Britva415]

There's any number of movie anti-heroes we love to hate - I'd regard that as affection.
Affectionable?
Pistols at dawn!

ok

affection for "the character entertaining us" versus affection for "the heinous person who the character is," I guess