Lesson 4: Developing Character Voices that will make your fans swoon!

Consider how your character was taught to speak. Did they grow up in a rougher setting where language was more functional? Or perhaps they were raised in a court setting where language was more flowery. It's natural that your character would speak differently according to this!

The way we speak often relates to our personalities and characters. How might your characters' traits express themselves through the dialogue? Here are some examples:

• An anxious character might insert lots of "uh, um" into their speech and phrase things as questions/with a lack of certainty. "I, uh, I'm not totally, um, sure about that."

• A condescending character might use larger words in an attempt to confuse or disconcert the other character. "Yes, well that is a fairly lugubrious analysis of the problem, are you sure that's how you really feel?"

• A manipulative character might phrase things in a way that is leading the other character. "It would be far more ideal to take the high road, don't you think?"

You can let your characters reuse certain phrases they resonate with, or have consistent ticks that give them a feeling of unique personality. Examples:

• GW in Shark Bait uses the nickname "Pet."

• In Royal Red, Felix refers to an ever growing list of "rules" without any clear rhyme or reason.

• Julian references his particular love of leeches throughout The Arcana.