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Topic : 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 - selfpublishingguru.com

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Dialogue a very difficult subject for a 'typical' writer. Dialogue needs to heard and cannot really be learned from a book. And unless you've a diverse group of friends you've no source material.

Firstly, you probably need to unlearn everything you've learned about grammar and prose. (If MS Word doesn't put green lines under my dialogue I revisit it). Real people repeat words and phrases and have generally poor grammar.
Unless your story uses diverse characters they'll all sound the same. If your story features five teens from Alabama - they will all sound the same.
Be mindful of your target audience. The reader has to possess 'decoding' information i.e have knowledge of what type of people speak that way. With the target reader the dialogue can do 'everything'. There's no need for separate 'scene-setting' or 'characterisation'.

Kelly joined her friends at the canteen table. "Wassup, bitches!" she said, setting down her tray.

Scene is set: you have a good idea who these people are and where these people are.

Culture.

Different cultures and locales speak different ways, using different words to describe the same thing.

Age

Language changes with generations.

"Respectable young ladies should wear a frock when they attend church," said the minister.

Thinking as write - it's pretty much everything. Sex: girls are unlikely to use sports metaphors. Profanities: some will use them, some won't.

Characterisation dictates dialogue, dialogue drives characterisation. Temperament is also a factor.

When you get it right . . . the latter part of your story needs very few dialogue tags because the words could only come from one character.

Debra Morgan from the Dexter series said the F-word over 100 times in the first eight season. There were some very exclusive combinations


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