: Re: Do my characters need to have different mannerisms in order to be perceived as different? My editor returned to me with her initial critique of my novel, saying some characters were too similar,

@Rivera824

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I don't personally think you need to make your characters starkly different in personality. That seems ... like a really odd suggestion to me. Playing up uniqueness is probably a good idea, but I wouldn't worry if two characters are largely the same.

Big picture: What's probably happening is that the reader's experience is different than the author's. It isn't that readers are stupid or whatever, but they come to the words with a different mindset.

They (we) need clues. Action is the best - I think that's great that you do that. Dialog tags are good too. Look to see if you have enough - particularly in scenes between the characters your editor identified.

But another easy fix is - you can also add in a verbal tick unique to each character. The reader just needs a clue as to the speaker. A stammer is a possibility, but it can also be a word. Maybe your character adds the word "Well," or "Listen" to the beginning of some of their sentences. Not every one, but some. Just enough to tip the reader off that these characters are different. (or unusual syntax, or complexity of language ...)

Someone said the first good draft is for the author, but after that the writing (editing) is all for the readers. Or something like that.

p.s. I was surprised that a reader thought three of the women in my story (all secondary characters) were too similar. They are night and day in terms of education level, livelihood, fears, hopes and dreams, etc. But this reader simply characterized them all as wives in a patriarchal society. This reader didn't see beyond that - - - Which tells you something - it tells me that readers may only take a very superficial look at the story you're telling. I made a quick fix to one character, giving her a business to run and making her husband the trailing income. Nothing in her personality or story is changed, at all (the story isn't about her business!) and the society allows this sort of arrangement anyway. I'll be curious if he still thinks she is like the other wives.

I also sometimes wonder if a small physical distinction, like 'The pinky on his left hand was severed when he was a child,' would help the reader keep characters straight. Just a little thing that doesn't need to impact the story, but graphic enough to leave an impression.

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