How do you cote your characters speeches in way that the dialogues among characters seems real or normal.

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emidio125
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How do you cote your characters speeches in way that the dialogues among characters seems real or normal.

Post by emidio125 »

I am starting to develop my writings, but most of the times I face problems to cote my characters dialogues in a way that they look like real conversations. When I read other authors books I found the characters dialogues so real that I don't see them as letters, but sounds being spoken.

Nevertheless, I don't feel the same sensation when I read my own stories. And I'm looking for help and ideas in ways to cote well the speech of characters in my stories.
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KS Crooks
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Post by KS Crooks »

Three things I try to keep in mind for conversations is 1- what emotions are involved.This may dictate the words used, tone, volume. 2- having the characters play off of each other. How they react to what the other person said. Three- the character's base personality. In stressful situations people fall back to their core self whether it be sarcastic, fearful, hopeful, helpful, closed-off, to name a few. I do these particularly when a character's frame of mind needs to be conveyed.
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Jabril Miller
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Post by Jabril Miller »

Rely on their core personalities and write what's most natural to them based on who you think they are as a character. A generally happy person will have dialogue with a lot of exclamation points for instance, a sullen character dialogue with a lot of ellipses, etc.

Also do keep in mind situations can change your character's dialogue, so a character who's with somebody they love will react much differently with someone they greatly dislike, someone who's interested in something will react much differently than with something they're disinterested in. It's a lot of juxtaposition (almost like a game, at least as a writer), so the best advice is keep your characters in mind, and keep working at it until you get the feeling you want in your writing!
emidio125
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Post by emidio125 »

KS Crooks wrote: 12 Sep 2020, 08:43 Three things I try to keep in mind for conversations is 1- what emotions are involved.This may dictate the words used, tone, volume. 2- having the characters play off of each other. How they react to what the other person said. Three- the character's base personality. In stressful situations people fall back to their core self whether it be sarcastic, fearful, hopeful, helpful, closed-off, to name a few. I do these particularly when a character's frame of mind needs to be conveyed.
I appreciate it, I will to consider the aspects you mentioned in my writings.
emidio125
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Post by emidio125 »

12ultimate wrote: 13 Sep 2020, 12:00 Rely on their core personalities and write what's most natural to them based on who you think they are as a character. A generally happy person will have dialogue with a lot of exclamation points for instance, a sullen character dialogue with a lot of ellipses, etc.

Also do keep in mind situations can change your character's dialogue, so a character who's with somebody they love will react much differently with someone they greatly dislike, someone who's interested in something will react much differently than with something they're disinterested in. It's a lot of juxtaposition (almost like a game, at least as a writer), so the best advice is keep your characters in mind, and keep working at it until you get the feeling you want in your writing!
I got you! And thanks for helping me. I'll try to use your ideas too.
Casey Kowalewsky
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Post by Casey Kowalewsky »

You're thinking too much when you write. At least that's what happens to me. Try to write the dialogue exactly as you hear it in your head without censoring it.
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