Dialogue in building characters

[bestwrite06]

Hi Everyone

I'm new to the forum and just wondering how much importance you put into dialogue when building characters?

 

[pmmg]

Howdy BestWrite, Welcome Here.

 

[Queshire]

Hmm.... I might not be understanding the question, but ensuring that my characters have distinctive voices is an important thing for me, and I've struggled with feeling that some of my characters feel too similar or with trying to maintain a consistent voice for them.

It is one of the last things I decide on for my characters because their voice is inevitably influenced by other choices I made for the character. I'm not trying to do anything particularly new. My old Orc shaman is more likely than not going to be gruff with a lot of, "hrrrm,"s and, "humph."s

 

[pmmg]

Oh...I thought this was an intro thread...

I am also not sure the scope to the question. but I would say I put a lot of importance on it. Most of my scenes are revealing the character through what they say to each other, and how the react to the things others are saying. Occasionally we get their thoughts about what others are saying but usually, I just let the dialog reveal it. Many characters in the story speak in different languages, and so getting language and inflection (to an extent) is used to show their culture. Their reasoning, and values come out in a lot of dialog, and their belief sets.

I tend to go further than spoken language and also try to show non-verbal language as well. I may use the interaction passages to show that no one spoke, but someone made a face, or a body movement that spoke without saying.

But, I would like more clarity on the question. If you just want me to rate the importance of dialog, I will just say its high.

 

[Karlin]

It's like real life. How do you get to really know someone? By talking to them.

As far as giving each person a distinctive voice, I always think of Mark Twain, in Huckleberry Finn. Hard to beat what he did there. worth reading, or reading again, just to see how he did that.

 

[bestwrite06]

Actually, you guys have clarified things nicely. What I was trying to ask is the importance of letting dialogue reveal character development, the way they talk, be it sarcasm, comedic, etc.

Much appreciated you guys taking the time to respond.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I also love using dialogue to reveal the inner workings of a character, often just by getting a glimpse of the shape they leave in the world around them, rather than direct indication. This practice stems from Showing vs Telling - it's showing, just to clarify - and it's why so many of us use it.

This is one of my favorite exchanges. It's from our third book, Beneath a Stone Sky. And welcome to Scribes! Get used to the story grabs. I'm a terrible show off.

~~~

Alerich conjured a small flame and relit the joint, taking another bitter lungful that made his head start to spin. The lamppost blotted out most of the stars, but Alerich fancied he could see some of the brighter ones. It was a cold, cloudless night.

“You have enough of that to share?”

Alerich let out a stream of smoke and looked up at Stephen. Surely, he wasn’t so stoned that he’d missed the street musician walk up from across the car park. “Are you here to yell at me, too?”

“Nope.” Stephen crouched beside Alerich and leaned back against the car, accepting the offered joint. “You look like hell.”

“It’s been a rough week.”

“So I’ve heard.”

Alerich watched him for a moment, trying to puzzle him out. “Do you know what happened here tonight?”

Stephen took a slow drag, his expression grim. “It’s been a long time coming. At least the kids survived.”

Alerich sighed. “I don’t suppose if I asked you how you know that you’d tell me?”

“Not tonight.” Stephen took another hit and passed the joint back. “How are you doing?”

Alerich thought that if he squinted just a bit, he could make out some more stars. “I am going to singlehandedly destroy this town by the weekend, I think.” He took another hit. His lips tingled.

Stephen shook his head, his long, curling hair falling over his shoulders. “No, you’re not Seahaven’s destruction, Alerich. You’re its salvation.”

A snort escaped from Alerich’s lips. “Mate, do you have me confused with someone else?”

Stephen smiled and it was as if the stars got just a little bit brighter. “Everyone stumbles at the beginning. You’re right where you’re supposed to be, doing exactly what you’re meant to do.”

 

[bestwrite06]

Thank you for sharing. That is what I have had to learn, the difference between showing and telling. But as I have come to grasp that concept, I realized how building my characters actually brought them to life. Its always nice to have other writers to bounce these things off of.