: Re: How can I capture the voice of an insane person? In a story I am writing an insane character speaks to another. Unfortunately, I don't know how I can convey a person's insanity through their

@Carla500

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Speech may not be your best option. Action might be a greater tool. The character could speak completely fine (albeit nonsensically in subject), but begin doing some kind of action that no 'sane' person would do.

Your character's illness IS important. A person suffering from one extreme mental illness does not behave like another. Some are aggressive. Some are paranoid. Some are self-destructive. Some won't speak at all.

It might be best to mull the scene over, from an 'end justifies the means' kind of perspective where you just focus on what needs to happen and where you want it to go. Then you take that and use the most effective behavior to get you there, then research that behavior and try to find out how a person who exhibits THAT behavior would speak. Let the story dictate the character in that instance (kind of like a meta-commentary on insanity itself, if you think about it).

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