Wednesday, December 4, 2019

style - What aspects of written dialogue are important when giving characters a unique voice?


I have a project that I am working on in which I need to write quite a few fictional informal email correspondences between pairs of characters. I am not using these characters in any other context.


I am working with a relatively large number of characters (12 ish) and have neither the time nor the need to fully flesh out each in great detail.


I think I am doing a good job keeping the characters interesting and unique in terms of the actual content of their conversations, but I am aware that their writing styles are all a very similar.



I have tried to identify some basic variables I can use to determine the character's writing style. So far I mainly have the following:



  • Tendency to over/under comma

  • Typical sentence length

  • Commonly used phrases/sayings (oh god, yeah-but-no, take the world by its nipples and twist)

  • Expressions of humour (haha, lol, :D)


What are some other ways I can differentiate my characters' writing styles? Or put another way, what are some things that give away a common writer that I should try and avoid?




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