: Re: How do I avoid making all my characters speak like me? I'm writing a story and it is really hard to avoid putting my own speech patterns into my stories. Especially for the mean and dark

@Ravi5107385

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Here's a bit of advice a friend gave me: Try writing your main character as someone completely different from you. So my first story was told in the voice of a 25-year old woman who works in a convenience store. (I was, at that time, a 40-something man who worked at a university.)

Still, my main characters usually start off as me. (She did too, in voice and temperament.) Through revision and the critique of my readers (Do you have readers?) characters become less me and more who they are.

Trust the process. Just write your first draft, then tweak your characters as you rewrite and revise. And get some readers that you trust.

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