Let each character’s dialogue phrases and speech patterns show who they are. Their personalities, attitudes, and background will come to life.
As I’ve been freewriting, first letting the voices in my head turn into characters, and then letting them go where they want, it’s interesting to watch their voices come through.
One dialogue started with an old woman who was cold, and her frustrated-but-patient daughter showed up. They both started out with my voice, but the old woman’s speech patterns turned into short, clipped comments with some old-fashioned expressions thrown in. She rambled from topic to topic in short bursts, but kept coming back to “I’m cold.”
The old woman ended up sounding much different than her daughter, and became a real character that I may go back and play with for a short story someday. Read more about individuality in dialogue in the article, Characters Need Unique Dialogue.
I missed last week’s fiction workshop (migraine), but my short story gets critiqued tonight. I’ll keep you posted. Keep writing!
