I've been thinking a lot about dialogue lately... here's the next installment if you will indulge me.
Characterization:
What tools do you use, as a writer, to define the distinctions between characters?
It is easy to fall into the trap of "every character sounding like a carbon copy of the other". Admittedly, during a first draft, I find this commonplace in my own writing. Knowing this, I reserve an entire revision to dialogue, focusing on characterization through dialogue primarily.
Let's talk basics for a moment, writing characters on different social spectrums... the uneducated and rough versus the highly articulate & polished types. In my own writing, I tend to use more menial words and shorter sentences for the gruff character and longer sentencing with flowery, descriptive words for the dialogue of a refined character. That's not uncommon and a relatively easy distinction to put to paper.
My questions lies in finer shades of character. Those where the lines between class, education, nationality, race, etc. are slim to nonexistant.
In the ensemble of an entire cast, what are some of the tools you employ to differentiate these characters through dialogue?
Do you feel this is an important aspect of storytelling?
Other thoughts or comments?
Characterization:
What tools do you use, as a writer, to define the distinctions between characters?
It is easy to fall into the trap of "every character sounding like a carbon copy of the other". Admittedly, during a first draft, I find this commonplace in my own writing. Knowing this, I reserve an entire revision to dialogue, focusing on characterization through dialogue primarily.
Let's talk basics for a moment, writing characters on different social spectrums... the uneducated and rough versus the highly articulate & polished types. In my own writing, I tend to use more menial words and shorter sentences for the gruff character and longer sentencing with flowery, descriptive words for the dialogue of a refined character. That's not uncommon and a relatively easy distinction to put to paper.
My questions lies in finer shades of character. Those where the lines between class, education, nationality, race, etc. are slim to nonexistant.
In the ensemble of an entire cast, what are some of the tools you employ to differentiate these characters through dialogue?
Do you feel this is an important aspect of storytelling?
Other thoughts or comments?