How do your characters speak to you?

Kylano 2020-10-18 22:46:40 UTC #1

When I wrote fanfiction once upon a time, it was a bit easier to realize a character wasn't being voiced or written correctly or very well, but I'm finding that when I write up scenarios in my original novel, I can go through an entire half page before I stop dead without knowing why. I can try beating more at it with a hammer and chisel, but in the end, I just end up erasing it all and starting again and again until I finally feel like my own character feels better with how I've written them.

I originally wrote my MC's mother as a hard-core, strong-armed character, but it just didn't feel right. Something about her was off, and I couldn't figure it out until I changed course entirely. She wouldn't do this, she should be doing that, or she wouldn't say this in x way, she'd say it in y way.

KoreanTacos 2020-10-18 22:48:05 UTC #2

Well she was kind of butthole during my birfday...
https://tapas.io/episode/1894554

jmassat 2020-10-18 23:52:02 UTC #3

Sometimes I approach characters more like toys to play with in the toybox that is a story, like "what can I do with this type of character? Oh, this would be fun/cool..."

Other times I approach them like people whose psyches I have to think more about before I can actually write them. These are the times when it feels less like characters are telling me things and more like I'm peeling their outer shells back to learn more about them. (For one story, I did character interviews almost as literally as possible, imagining myself in a back-and-forth with people who I started off knowing very little about.)

Often I'll be writing and the next words or actions of a character will just spontaneously occur to me. More rarely, that'll happen when I'm going about my day. Still, it's rare for me to feel like my character is reaching out, speaking out, or wresting control of any part of the story. Usually I can nudge them back.

AmysGames 2020-10-19 00:18:19 UTC #4

Whenever I write a character, I just put myself in their headspace, and their dialogue/emotions/etc. come naturally to me. Not sure how else to describe it. It's like a weird sort of empathetic thing?

On the other hand, whenever I write meta stuff where my characters literally interact with me, they're usually pretty annoyed.

N1ghtm4r3 2020-10-19 00:21:53 UTC #5

i guess in some ways i try a bit of method acting, to see how they would react or speak in situations, thinking of the characters mood , and so on ,its kind of interesting to see a different angle

DasIstWunderblyat 2020-10-19 00:42:11 UTC #6

They are fictional characters, they don't speak to me. Otherwise that is creepy and I need to look for professional help.

I always try to put myself in their perspective, when I want to flesh them out. I try to understand the mechanics and reasoning of their thoughts, and how it reflected in their behaviours in regards to the story context.

Pony_wearing_a_hat 2020-10-19 02:01:48 UTC #7

If I think that a part doesn't work or the characters aren't acting right, I reread and think over the scene in my head with a few changes each time, I keep going like that and bounce ideas around until I find something that feels right. As for Dialogue, I flat out have to say it all out loud. It makes me come off as crazy but it sure does work.

Legendofgenii 2020-10-19 09:37:35 UTC #8

For me (when I'm writing for my comic) it's like watching a movie in my head. I'll daydream the scenes and what the characters say/do - if it's good I'll note it down/sketch it - and if it's crap, too dark or totally not canon to the main plot... well, at least I enjoyed myself for a bit.

I do have to watch my characters actions and dialogue, because you are right - they have their own personalities and it can feel wrong to make them do or say something out of character.

Even with drawing - I have issues when drawing Genii smiling, because he doesn't do that often in my story. It's like a betrayal.

PaulDevers 2020-10-19 11:30:29 UTC #9

Whenever I'm scrap for character dialogue or unsure on how they would react, I do one of 3 things:
1:Imagine the comic in question as if it was some degree of cartoon/movie/television show, and see how delivery and pacing would work in a non-comic format to get the idea of how characters would work on brevity and such. Word balloon breaks being gaps in the delivery, for example.
2: Read the dialogue out loud to myself and see if everybody sounds same-y or not. Usually in the car or when I'm alone so I can get inflection and emotion into it to see if they sound the same regarding it.
3: Go back to whatever prior character/characters the person I'm writing is based on as a comparison. (What would James from Team Rocket say here, as an example.)
Those usually work for me!

Kylano 2020-10-19 14:28:04 UTC #10

So, it feels more like you treat them like a puppeteer or maybe like pawns on a chessboard, doing whatever you will them at your own behest, right? Like an omniscient overlord (which, I guess we technically are), you put them in the places you feel work best regarding specific situations. It feels like you're playing chess and analyzing how one pawn would match together with other pieces to make for a good and thrilling game. I like it!

Hah, so should I start calling you an asari? It's like you're mind-melding with your characters. Or, I guess it's just the ordinary, "were I in their shoes, what would I do?" It makes sense -- absolutely nothing wrong with that.

So, your method is like reading a play aloud to see how it would sound when done at x time in y situation?

Fiction is usually based off of reality in some format -- if you think of it like talking to a friend you're close to, is it really so off base?

There's nothing crazy about your methodology. Some things just have to be heard to be really focused on. Well done on finding something that works best for you.

I tend to have movie scenarios enacted in my mind as well, but then I typically want to physically encapsulate everything that goes on, and that's just asking for some injuries.

When you go about creating your comics, do you do dialogue first or imagine the scenario first and fit in the dialogue to match?

cherrystark 2020-10-19 15:42:34 UTC #11

I imagine my characters as "people" and let them essentially behave as such. People are really fluid when it comes to the way that they talk and behave. Hence why people have "multiple sides". I'm a very shy person though I often appear very confident. I didn't learn until my senior year of high school from my dance teacher that I'm only "confident" when I'm comfortable. If I'm in a new situation, I'm very quiet and reserved. My brother appears very strong and confident but will get really flustered if he isn't able to figure something out first.

I think it's important to define your character's relationships' and what's considered "normal" for each one. Characters should have the option to present themselves in different ways depending on the scenario. One of my characters has a brother/sister relationship with another character and they quibble all the time. We see different personality traits come forward depending on who he has a scene with.

For another character, I defined that one of my characters was most likely orphaned or at least a runaway. She decided that she really wanted to bug my assassin character. That later revealed to me that she was desperate for a parental figure. The assassin goes from barely tolerating her to "Papa Bear" mode because she's now his kid.

cookieroach 2020-10-19 16:06:47 UTC #12

As a couple of people already mentioned, I think it's helpful to imagine being in the character's shoes and learn of they feel and think about things. Not just look at them from an outsiders perspective, but understand the "inside"

No idea if this is helpful or not, but I find it much easier when each character has a unique "energy" or "aura" to them, that is different from each other. That way, you don't have to know every detail about the character, but can still get an overall idea and discover details later on and still keep everything consistent.

somekh 2020-10-19 16:07:32 UTC #13

This reply made me laugh, because... yeah.

I used to think that characters having their own "will" and "voice" was normal!

.......

And then I got diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Phantomlight 2020-10-19 16:22:21 UTC #14

I usually role play in my head a scenario for my characters or even roleplay as them in real life with figures. I think the way @Legendofgenii is identical to my method:

I daydream quite a bit and that's usually how to get my ideas of episodes and what my characters would do and what they would say in that episode. It's fun and as you said, it's "like watching a movie in my head." That's exactly how I see it. I think it's a wonderful tool to use especially if you're bored, no harm in being lost in thoughts, unless you're supposed to be doing something important xD

Legendofgenii 2020-10-19 17:30:00 UTC #15

Yay. Samesies.

@Kylano My husband tells me off for scowling, smiling or looking worried whilst staring at nothing - and It's usually because I'm thinking up some over dramatic scene in my head. I don't tend to physically act them out - unless I can't find a good reference for a drawing.

foxnflames 2020-10-19 20:07:31 UTC #16

I get a good feel for their personality first and whenever I write their dialogue or them in a scene, I imagine myself as them or talking to them. I aim to keep them consistent whenever they’re in a scene and think how they’d react. If something feels off then I tweak it til it feels right. I never thoroughly plot dialogue so I let it flow naturally when my characters are having conversations.

DasIstWunderblyat 2020-10-19 22:38:02 UTC #17

Fiction is usually based off of reality in some format -- if you think of it like talking to a friend you're close to, is it really so off base?

No, my characters are not my friends. My friends are sentient beings that is real outside my mind, their existence and interaction is independent to mine, they are people not some figment of imagination.

For analogy imagine you have a cute doll. You like it so much you gave it a name and think what if it has a certain personality, and started to build a story revolving
around it. Then based on your imagination and constructed personality for it, you started to think how it will interact like a person. You tried to talk to it and ask questions, and you imagine it answering based on personality and traits you give. You even thought your imaginary conversation is like those of friends. All good, aren't all character owners are like that? Nothing is off limit to me.

Unless you really think the doll answers it itself and it is the actual doll answering, not your projection of its personality. Or you think The doll is a real sentient being that its sentience can be independently exists apart from your imagination. Now those are terrifying and off-limit to me.

I hope I did not offend anyone who are psychologically different, such as having DID. Yet, my characters gaining sentience in my head then taking over the last remnant of my already fallen apart (and probably near-inexsistent) sense of self and personality is one of the things I am fearful of.

Freemints30 2020-10-19 22:39:07 UTC #18

Voices from my dreams whisper into my ears prophesies. Horrible predictions, all made by the angry spirits.

Kylano 2020-10-19 22:54:40 UTC #19

No worries, no Annabelle happening here. What I was referring to is like how people use animals in an anthromorphic manner, where they suddenly talk and display human like expressions/gestures. We know they're cats and that they can't speak as we do. No doubt there. But I've never needed to have such a clear barrier between reality and a cognization of something that doesn't actually exist anywhere but in your mind.

No, your characters aren't your friends. That's fine, but typically, people base their characters off of experience of things they relate most to. For example, cooking manga might pop up because of this interest in cooking, not because they themselves are cooks. It's just something to base off of real-life experience, and on that note, I was asking about whether the characters you make are constructs that don't rely on actual experience or that they may be based loosely off of real people.

DasIstWunderblyat 2020-10-19 23:00:26 UTC #20

Phew. I almost thought it is another horror story.

To answer it they are amalgamation of traits and tendencies I have seen in people, sometimes exaggerated and sometimes downplayed.