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This week: Giving Your Characters A Voice Edited by: Kitti the Red-Nosed Feline  
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A good character is full of personality. Dialogue can help you bring this across to the reader. Of course, implementing accents can be tricky, and you may have to break a few rules here and there to allow your character to shine...
This week's Drama Newsletter is all about giving your characters a voice.
kittiara
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“Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willnae be fooled again!” – The Nac Mac Feegle, in The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett.
After suffering from an ISP that kept acting up, I decided to switch to another provider this year. I was so bored without my Internet. The switchover took quite long because of weather conditions. One good thing to come out of it is that during that time I was introduced to the TV series The Wire. I watched all five seasons within about ten days.
I must say, at first I struggled with it. The reason for that was the use of slang by several of the characters. I wasn’t familiar with it, so for the first few episodes I kept wondering what they were saying, which made it somewhat difficult to follow the story. Once I became familiar with the way they spoke, though, I really enjoyed the series.
For all that I was partly left clueless at first, I am glad that those behind the scenes of The Wire had decided to include the slang. They must have known that some viewers would find the characters difficult to understand, but it made them seem a whole lot more authentic. Some people may not want to “work” at their understanding, but I’d rather have characters that are realistic, instead of everyone sounding the same even if they shouldn’t. And that goes for characters in novels, too.
One author who – in my humble opinion – is a master at dialogue and character creation is Sir Terry Pratchett. He may seem out of place in a Drama newsletter (though I feel that a novel like Nation fits the genre quite well), but as an author who creates unique, memorable, believable characters I feel that he is someone worth studying.
The quote above is from a novel titled The Wee Free Men. The Wee Free Men are pictsies. They stand about six inches tall and are fearless fighters. Their language is a mixture of English and the Glaswegian dialect, with influences of Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The language suits the characters, and whilst sometimes you may have to read a piece of dialogue they’re involved in a couple of times before you get it, Pratchett always makes it worth your while.
Different species on his Discworld tend to have different accents. For example, a vampire may ask, “Vot was ze question?” An Igor is more likely to call you “Thur” than “Sir”. They tend to lisp, you see, as it comes with the job. And the trolls, whose brains work faster in cold climates and slow down when they’re not in the mountains, can come out with something like this:
“'This your club with a nail in it. You will eat it. You will sleep on it! When Detritus say jump you say... what colour! We goin' to do this by the numbers! And I got lotsa numbers!” – Detritus in Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett.
But different ways of talking are not limited to different species. As in life, where everyone has a different way of speaking, so characters should have their own voice.
“If that’s what bein’ bad does to you, I could of done with some of that years ago. The wages of sin is death, but so is the salary of virtue, and at least the evil get to go home early on Fridays.” ~Nanny Ogg in Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett.
“Them as can do has to do for them as can’t. And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices.” ~Granny Aching in The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett.
“Pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny. Free men pull in all kinds of directions. It’s the only way to make progress.” ~Lord Havelock Vetinari in The Truth by Terry Pratchett
“I don't gallivant! I've never gallivanted. I don't know how to vant! I don't even have a galli!" ~Commander Samuel Vimes in Thud! by Terry Pratchett.
“I reckon after you’ve had a busy life, you ort to be able to relax a bit when you’re dead.” ~Granny Weatherwax in Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett.
The point of showing you these quotes is that the way in which your characters speak can help you, the author, bring across their personalities to the reader. You could see it as the icing on the character building cake.
Not all spelling, not every bit of grammar has to be perfect in a novel or short story. Not if there is a good reason for breaking the rules. Of course, there is a time and a place, and dialogue tends to be the space in which you have a bit more freedom. And that makes things fun!
That doesn't mean that you should write a piece that's completely incomprehensible to the reader. If it's too much work to read a novel, sooner or later people will close the book and move on. Nor should you use creative freedom as an excuse for bad writing.
A good writer, though, who brings characters to life, who creates a believable world for them to move around in, and who gives them a good story... well, a writer like that can get away with a thing or two, even those cheeky pictsies whose accent is a wee bit stronger than most.
It's a balancing act, and it takes practice, but the pay-off is worth it.
kittiara
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The Drama Newsletter welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in!
zwisis - Thank you for this great newsletter. Like you, I cannot watch or read any film or book where an animal suffers. And even if the story is a happy one, ending with the death of a beloved animal (Morley and Me) I find it very difficult to read. Perhaps it is a case of the reader relating to the writer's pain?
Thank you for your kind words .
I think you are right. Most of us who love animals will know what the loss of a beloved furry/feathery/scaly friend feels like. It's a deep pain. Sometimes, when I think of a feline friend of mine who was with me during my teenage years, I still feel sad. Even though I have two other felines in my life now. It stays with you, and I think that makes it so hard...
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Ida_Matilda_Wright Help  - I used to just glance over the news letters. I am ashamed to admit it now. However, I found these newsletters to be a great reviewing tool. No only can I find some great work, I also love to here that some don't even know that they are in the newsletter. They are so happy to find out
Thank you for being willing to review the highlighted items! Yes, sometimes an editor does not have the time to notify the authors, so it will be a (hopefully welcome) surprise  .
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Noyoki  - Hi, I'm not sure why my story 'A Summer to Remember' was included in this news letter. Please let me know. Thank you.
~Noyoki
Hi Noyoki! Your question gives me the opportunity to explain how I choose the items for this newsletter. Every newsletter I write, I go through the new items in the genre - items posted within the last week (or thereabouts). The ones that stand out to me get featured. That way, they will attract a wider audience than new items usually attract.
~~~
billwilcox - Kitti, Kitti, Kitti,
I love animals in stories, they have more morality than humans. Which is probably why all animal stories have a moral  "Lion Of The Sea" [13+]
Ah, Mr. Wilcox! Excellent story, as always. I can see why the hardship suffered in this story has a purpose. But then, you have always been a master of the written word, so I am not surprised that you have made it work .
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Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,
The Drama Newsletter Team
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Drama: March 13, 2013 Issue [#5566]
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