Making characters 'unique'

[allmywires]

I had some feedback yesterday on some of my characters, and it's got me puzzling over how to make their voices and actions very unique from me. This person (who's known me for a long time) thinks that a lot of my characters speak like I would - which of course they would, I mean, I'm writing them... - and that I need to distinguish them more from my MC, because she thinks at the moment they're just 'extensions of Ezia'.

Also she said my older characters don't speak like they would for their age, which is another trouble I have. The one character she said that stood out as 'unique' was the one character I think I make too 'hammy' and stereotypical - my MCs mother.

Any advice on getting age-appropriate/unique voice right? Or even their actions. I'm drawing a complete blank.

 

[Bowler1]

Role play while writing.

I don't quite get up and walk about talking in strainge voices, but I try and think as my character would. This will help change your character voices. Have different traits, some quite, some loud, some rude and so on. People are different so to really work you need to add differences to your characters to give depth to you're writing. I enjoy doing this, it adds nice contrasts.

So pretend, let your imagination go. I know you already have a good imagination so let loose and enjoy.

 

[HareBrain]

Any advice on getting age-appropriate/unique voice right? Or even their actions.

This is a bit like asking "how do I become a great writer?" Observation of other people (ideally real, but also fictional), has to be a large part of it. But it's probably just as hard to write a convincing voice of someone who's much older than you as it is to write someone much more intelligent. This is where older writers have an advantage, though of course they might then forget what youth feels like (Orson Welles's 1980s record notwithstanding).

 

[Kylara]

Maybe grab a piece of your stuff and change all names to Geoff (or any name of your choice) and then leave it for a few days and then try and work out who each character actually is...then look at your original and see if you are right...or hand it to someone else and ask them to see how many actual characters they think are there...that should help work out what needs to be made more unique, or it may just cause you to like the name Geoff more...I'm not entirely sure...it seemed like a good idea when I thought of it...

 

[Erin99]

Every character will have their own backstory and interests - how do these influence your protag? In what way does he/sh see the world differently? Are they educated and speak intelligently? Are they at home on the streets and aggressive? Are they shy? Do they obsess over anything in particular that would colour their thoughts as they go about and/or interact with people?

Everyone has something unique - you just have to find out what it is.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Brandon Sanderson talks about using linguistic variations to differentiate characters here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pT12Lh6Jzs&feature=plcp

Also remember that dialogue in novels is *not* natural, but exaggerated to facilitate information and character to drive the story. Natural dialogue will be full of pauses, um ..., er ..., and similar. In writing, it has to be more succinct.

 

[allmywires]

Observation of other people (ideally real, but also fictional), has to be a large part of it. But it's probably just as hard to write a convincing voice of someone who's much older than you as it is to write someone much more intelligent.

This is my big problem - she thinks my characters don't sound 'old' enough. Observation is the thing, I suppose, but I get hung up on perfection, and where am I going to find a 40-ish army commander of a small, isolated former city-state to observe?

I suppose because I am a young person and I spent 90% of my time with other young people (except at work I suppose, but even then I only ever see kids and their parents) I find it hard to pinpoint the differences between young and old. I guess I'm not really asking for a straight answer - there isn't one - but are there things that young people and older people do intrinsically differently? Maybe I don't really know what I'm asking...my mind is like a soggy marsh at the moment! I guess I'm wondering really if anyone else has this sort of problem?

Also, as an aside, I think all my characters are unique enough in their characteristics...it's just the execution of said characteristics (mostly in dialogue, I have to admit) that's letting me down.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I find casting at least the main characters with a well known actor and stalking them round YouTube really helps with body language and speech patterns. Whilst I may not know a 35 detective I stalked Lee Mead around YouTube and used him as the basis for the character.

 

[Kylara]

Yes, films are good for speech for older/younger/middle age people, try and look for some good dramas and note the difference in speech style. You may even notice the same on here, the older members may have a different style of expressing/writing than the younger. I know that I for one tend to use ellipses a lot (and I mean A LOT) because that reflects how I think and talk, one thought always running into another...I dislike the finality of a . and much prefer the open endedness of ...

 

[HareBrain]

I guess I'm not really asking for a straight answer - there isn't one - but are there things that young people and older people do intrinsically differently?

I think it's probably more the way that different amounts of experience cause them to approach things. Someone older usually has more of an idea how a situation is likely to turn out -- even if they've never been in that same situation before, they might have in an analogous one -- and what the risks are. Past a certain age, they tend to become more cautious about risk, both because experience has taught them that pain hurts, and because recovery from injury is likely to be longer. They're also likely to be more careful about what they spend their energy on, even if they don't (yet) actually have less of it. The linguistic skills (of those who are at all interested) are likely to be higher; they are (perhaps) less likely to be easily amused or impressed. They're more likely to be able to judge how others will react to something they say. Everything that comes from years and years of life and thought, much of which might have involved a great deal of repetition.

This doesn't go for everyone, needless to say.

I guess I'm wondering really if anyone else has this sort of problem?

Ah, that's easier -- yes!

 

[Venusian Broon]

but are there things that young people and older people do intrinsically differently?

I think you're being too nice and seeing the commonalities (which is by itself a good thing!). But let's go to the other extreme. Does my little 80 year-old grannie and grandad living in her bungalow look/behave/speak like a couple of 15 year olds getting irresponably drunk on cider in the middle of park, skiving school?

Of course not (although, who knows my Gran may have when she was younger [Gran if you are reading this, no I don't think you did ])

So my basic answer is yes, they do. There are lots of things that cause the differences - generations gaps always appear (and I'm sure parents/old folk for all eternity have moaned about the young scallywags, and have been recorded since the first Sumerians/Chinese/Egyptians started to scratch records down) hence different attitudes, ways of speaking and social expectations will exist stratified in age groupings.

Older people generally have responsibilities, power and more developed hang-ups and problems hence will react differently to similar situations. Physically they're different. A whole bunch of other stuff - it all adds up!

These are just generalisations of course. Best way to get an understanding: Observe as you go about, look for differences not similarities, mannerisms, social cues, why are people different (age, class, wealth) etc... I do it all the time on the bus, pub or walking about the streets when shopping 'Who's that coming up now - wonder what his/her story is?' - invent one (in your head of course, bus becomes very quiet and tense if you start talking to yourself ). Second best is to use the telly, but be careful to not take tired cliches.

 

[Kylara]

I've always wanted to be able to use the bus...sigh...accents/dialects also have a strange effect on people, I know someone who's accent causes her to use "slang" wordsbecause that was what they learnt as they grew up...my father has great difficulty with the ai sound found in snail, whale, Wales, pail, pale, mail etc but the rest of his speech is fine (except for the odd grammar buff, but we let that slide :wink: ) small things like that add uniqueness. In my WiP I have based certain aspects of a character on a friend and so in her dialogue there are, typed out, lots of umms and errr, because listening to her, that is what she sounds like (she panic talks very fast and when she runs out of words, fillers come in until she catches up with herself) I've tried writing them out, but I lose an integral part of the character...I shall probably put some of her up here at some point for opinions, but again, the small details make all the difference, you don't necessarily need a massive overhaul

 

[allmywires]

Thanks all. I've always been accused of not being very observational, time to start keeping my eyes peeled on the bus then...

I think it's probably more the way that different amounts of experience cause them to approach things. Someone older usually has more of an idea how a situation is likely to turn out -- even if they've never been in that same situation before, they might have in an analogous one -- and what the risks are. Past a certain age, they tend to become more cautious about risk, both because experience has taught them that pain hurts, and because recovery from injury is likely to be longer. They're also likely to be more careful about what they spend their energy on, even if they don't (yet) actually have less of it. The linguistic skills (of those who are at all interested) are likely to be higher; they are (perhaps) less likely to be easily amused or impressed. They're more likely to be able to judge how others will react to something they say. Everything that comes from years and years of life and thought, much of which might have involved a great deal of repetition.

It's funny, I read it and it all makes sense, and I'm thinking of people who I know and can apply these things to - yet my own brain couldn't make the links. Thanks brain

 

[Mouse]

I almost give my characters 'catchphrases' as it were. So you might've noticed (hopefully not if I've done it right ) that Ambrose uses character's names a lot more than any of the others - Mercer only says 'Ambrose' when he's annoyed with him, Mercer tends to be more direct and/or monosyllabic, Toby has an irritating habit of saying 'girl,' Jenn's friend Zoe says 'anyway' a lot.

Things like that help me. Not in TBM but I've got a posh character who speaks really differently (in my head) than the other characters, but to help me more they even use different terms of endearment (one guy says 'pal,' another says 'man' or 'mate,' then we've got those who use 'love' and those who say 'sweetheart' etc.) I also have them say different things for when they're pleased - so for example, my posh lady says 'wonderful' which is also used sarcastically. My other guy says 'brilliant.' Make sense?

Then you've got teeny little differences in accents. For example, my friend from Donegal would say "I've to go into town." I would say either "I've got to go into town" or "I have to go into town." See?

As for young vs old, my mum tells me I sound like my grandpa so who knows!

 

[allmywires]

I almost give my characters 'catchphrases' as it were. So you might've noticed (hopefully not if I've done it right ) that Ambrose uses character's names a lot more than any of the others - Mercer only says 'Ambrose' when he's annoyed with him, Mercer tends to be more direct and/or monosyllabic, Toby has an irritating habit of saying 'girl,' Jenn's friend Zoe says 'anyway' a lot.

I didn't notice that but they've all got very distinct voices, so must be working...

Things like that help me. Not in TBM but I've got a posh character who speaks really differently (in my head) than the other characters, but to help me more they even use different terms of endearment (one guy says 'pal,' another says 'man' or 'mate,' then we've got those who use 'love' and those who say 'sweetheart' etc.) I also have them say different things for when they're pleased - so for example, my posh lady says 'wonderful' which is also used sarcastically. My other guy says 'brilliant.' Make sense?

You see, I can do it in my other wip - one of the characters always calls my MC 'babe' or 'darling', and whenever something bad happens she always says 'bad luck!' in a sort of bright-but-irritating way. They all refer to each other as 'mate' in a laddy situation but not when they're not being 'lads'...if it makes sense.

Hmm...will have to start giving them their own little speech tics I think. And I forgot to say earlier, but like the idea of 'casting' my characters and youtube stalking them....it's not procrastination, it's research!

 

[Mouse]

What I plan on doing (at the end, though I'm tempted to do it now!) is go over each character and make sure that they don't blur into one another... unless they're the kind of character who picks things up from other characters (again not in TBM, but there's one character who says 'chill' a lot, and when the other character heard it, started to use it too).

Also, you know this cos I've seen you do it, but wee actions help too. Jenn's a ring-twister, Ambrose is a hair pusher, Merc's a tapper etc. etc.

 

[The Judge]

I was going to suggest verbal tics but Mouse has beaten me to it!

We none of us use language in exactly the same way, so when you give one person's lines to another it isn't only that one might drop all 'is 'aitches, or anovver might say anyfing, the way he constructs the sentences might be different so you'd get: "She's a pretty girl," "Cor, she's a looker," "That girl over there, she's not bad looking," "She's got a sweet face, hasn't she?" -- all say more or less the same thing, but are very different in feel. Some people talk in short, abrupt, sentences. Others waffle on and on and don't appear ever to have heard of a comma let alone a full stop. Some people are wondrously and everlastingly poetic, others avoid similes like the plague.

Ideally, half-way through the book you should be able to write a page of conversation between three people with no attribution at all and your readers should still know who is speaking just by their lines. (I think this is Kylara's Geoff-test.)

 

[Aminar]

A good way to have someone feel older is to have them be a little grumpier... Have them comment on a younger characters actions as if its the folly of youth. Make tthem a little tired of life. Have occasional joint pain. The older the character the more of this they'll have. On the conversation younger characters should be more idealistic. They should be energetic impatient and comment on the opposite gender more.

Kids should get lots of observations just a hair off of normal. The two teachers were whispering and then laughed. Obviously they're secretly dating when in fact they just shared that Billy wet his pants.

 

[HareBrain]

A good way to have someone feel older is to have them be a little grumpier... Have them comment on a younger characters actions as if its the folly of youth. Make tthem a little tired of life. Have occasional joint pain.

Ouch, so true. Also, how things used to be better. Which they were.

 

[Mouse]

Ouch, so true. Also, how things used to be better. Which they were.

The sun shone every day.