Andrew Seiple's Blog: Transmissions From the Teslaverse - Posts Tagged "characterization"

When I run RPG's, I usually try to give each non-player-character their own distinctive voice. Accents, tones, ways of speaking, stuff like that. It adds flavor to the game I find, helps the players visualize the person they're talking to. And honestly, it's pretty darn fun. The voices don't have to be perfect, so long as they're memorable.

I carried that technique over to me when I write. My characters all have their own voices, and ways of speaking. The goal is to make it so that you can recognize who's talking without quite as many "he-said, she-said's" on the page. I don't always succeed at that goal, but that's fine. It's still fun, and it helps me visualize the scenes that I'm writing.

And a funny thing happens, if you can find their voices... dialogue becomes easy. You don't plot out what they're going to say anymore, you just put the characters in a scene and let them talk about it. Often I'm surprised by how they banter, or go off on a subject that I didn't expect because, well, they would. It's just how they talk and act.

It was a bit scary letting them do this at first, since I was giving up control... but the more I went back and read the scenes where I tried it, the more I realized that they felt natural. Unforced. It felt more REAL.

So yeah. This technique might not work for everyone, but if you ever get the chance, I recommend that you try it. What've you got to lose?

Let your characters talk as they will. You might be pleasantly surprised at what they're saying.