Yeah, this actually came up in a conversation with a friend about the overuse of verbal tics and other speech patterns. Said friend thought it was weird how much these were used (she's not from around here, but has begun poking her head in recently).
We kind of figured out what was setting her apart - the fact that she was really writing, like she was working on a story from one character's perspective, and even when it came to dialogue, she used words that made it sound like the character, rather than just overloading the speech with that character's verbal tic.
and even when it came to dialogue, she used words that made it sound like the character, rather than just overloading the speech with that character's verbal tic.
Oh man, yes. That's SUPER important, and often one of the weaknesses of characters that people find boring to play with IMO. Word choice says a lot about a character.
And it is genuinely hard, so in some ways, I'm not surprised that a lot of people get it wrong, but it seems like lots of people don't even realize it. If more did, I'm sure we could squeeze out more competency from some people.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
(Anonymous) 2013-04-07 04:11 am (UTC)(link)OP
(Anonymous) 2013-04-07 05:58 am (UTC)(link)We kind of figured out what was setting her apart - the fact that she was really writing, like she was working on a story from one character's perspective, and even when it came to dialogue, she used words that made it sound like the character, rather than just overloading the speech with that character's verbal tic.
da
(Anonymous) 2013-04-07 07:41 am (UTC)(link)Oh man, yes. That's SUPER important, and often one of the weaknesses of characters that people find boring to play with IMO. Word choice says a lot about a character.
ayrt
(Anonymous) 2013-04-07 07:47 am (UTC)(link)