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Leyelle
Feb '24

Do you ever write consistent sayings or ways of moving for your characters? If so what?

Alicia has a habit of smoothing her skirt and wringing her wrists when she's nervous:

I smooth my skirt with one hand to keep from ringing my wrists, he watches the motion vaguely, as I try to change the subject to something lighter.

Shannon likes drumming on his desk with pens:

“And the talk is supposed to run between thirty to forty-five minutes,” Shannon drones, flicking his pen against the stacks of paper covering the desk, before forcing himself to sit up with the air of someone waking from a doze. “But those are pretty flexible guidelines. You can be slightly under or run over, it’s fine either way.”

These aren't things I planned ahead of time but became consistent traits of the characters. Do your characters have any consistent habits or sayings like this?

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zukasuki481
Feb '24

Ran has a habit of picking underneath her fingernails when stressed which led to Gretchen trimming her nails for her.

She also has the forever habit of constantly mouthing her words despite not being able speak out loud, the others think it's cute/funny.

Urchen
Feb '24

CGC eats people
Duh
Other than that they artificially sharpen their teeth and nails

perezathena312
Feb '24

My OC Paul always awkwardly shuffles in place, especially while waiting for his uncle. He moves his body weight from one leg to another while his hands are either behind him or in front of him.

lignorice
Feb '24

There are two character in Eigria: Lume that has repeated saying which actually makes sense. Cenric always says "It can't be" when he encountered something too irrational to be trusted, and Vrakh would always counter him with, "It can be." For now, it's still only once but there are definitely more in the future.

Sometimes I feel a bit deja vu when I write them, but I have to!

ThunderChicken
Feb '24

My characters use a lot of Maritime Canada expressions:

“His eyes looked like two pissholes in a snowbank” to describe an alcoholic with sunken, yellowed eyes

“So cheap he’d squeeze a nickel ‘til the beaver farts” (Canadian nickels have a beaver on them)

“The shit is out of the horse now” to describe a situation that can’t easily be reversed, similar to “the toothpaste is out of the tube”

“Sure as there’s shit in a cat” to describe a sure thing. I have no idea how this got to be a saying.

“Any port in a storm” to describe a situation where a character might be uncomfortable being in a place, but at least they’re reasonably safe. This comes from sailor-speak: When a storm hits they head for the nearest safe port and aren’t fussy about which one.

“I’m so hungry I could eat the north end of a southbound skunk”, whose meaning is pretty straightforward

simonitropunk
Feb '24

Lyza has the habit not calling people with their names. There's a priest named Arrno and she constantly call him "Priesty". One of the antagonists Kamy which is a human-chameleon hybrid, she calls her "Slime-y!"

One of her traditional major victories, she would give out a primal scream when she defeats a major villain after a tough fight. To some, she does give away quite a scary vibe not knowing she can be extremely kind and approachable.

Leyelle
Feb '24

lol, Mrs. Moon says that a lot too. all terms of endearment really. darling, my amor, dearest, etc. She virtually never refers to his son by his name, and Alicia is always referred to as 'Licia' or any other of a thousand glamorous pet names

beebutterbee
Feb '24

Yes exactly Lady Lock likes giving her loved ones terms of endearments too :sob:

TheBlacKat333
Feb '24

It’s only really shown on some later pages, but Hugo “censors” himself around authority figures and children, but otherwise he’s pretty crass. He also walks on his tiptoes a lot. Also doesn’t really like having his arms just hanging off the side of his body and not doing anything.
Kid stares a lot. That’s pretty clear.


Glofernwolfe
Feb '24

Zov'ha loves sayings and inspirational quotes (mady by others and by herself). I've actually kept a list of her favourite sayings.

“Defeat is but a burden one must be acquainted with in order to persevere.” (She learnt this during her years living in the wilderness)

“A famished body is more aware.” (This too... wilderness)

“Keep away those who seek to burden others with their troubles, for the scars of the heart never heal, they only seek to poison.” (I think she heard this from someone, but she was pissed with Marana)

“One cannot alleviate the turmoil around them unless they apprehend the turmoil within themselves.”

Glofernwolfe
Feb '24

In her head yes. If she's too hungry but there's more important tasks to do she'll remember the phrase “A famished body is more aware.”... (basically I'll retype the phrase in italics as the narrator / author)

bulgariansumoRegular
Feb '24

Leon has a tendency to say "Hm?" instead of "Huh?" This is something he gets from his mother. He also tends to run his hand through his hair when he's genuinely mad, but since he's such a happy-go-lucky boy, that's only come up once. Sometimes, he forgets words. He almost always texts with exclamation points.

Mia uses a lot of fillers like "um" and "uh" when speaking, though this is something I've been more consistent about including recently, so I'll have to go back and edit her to do that more in some of the earlier chapters. She also tends to end sentences with "I think," I think. She doesn't call anyone by nicknames even if everyone else has adopted them, unless the person in question uses it themself. (ex. Roxie's name Roxanne, but she prefers Roxie, so Mia calls her that.)

Roxie has a catchphrase: "Roxie Safety Tip: [tip]" This is something that I wrote on a whim, but ended up sticking. She also gives most of the other characters nicknames. Her texts tend to contain emoticons (ex: >:3c, 0_o, >w<) Her speech pattern alternates between dramatically archaic and childish/cutesy, like so:

“You!” She pointed at Emil, then spread out her arms. “Gaze upon my handiwork and understand what could’ve been.” Her shoulders slumped. “You could’ve at least let me dress Aiden and Junnn!”

Jun's speech is varying levels of Californian. In general, they use "like" as a buffer, among other things like "way" instead of "very". Sometimes, they really play it up to seem more airheaded. They use fingerguns every so often, and they only text in lowercase.

Aiden doesn't have any specific mannerisms that I can think of off the top of my head. Sometimes, he calls the captain "Cap'n."

Emil, on the other hand, has a bunch. He winks. A lot. There's been at least a few times where he leaves conversations with "Ciao!" More frequently than anyone else, he elongates the vowel sounds of some words. He pulls at the curls in his hair when he's in thought. Instead of turning around, he pivots on his foot. Like Roxie, he's also someone who uses a few nicknames. He calls his brother "Captain Bro," even though his brother rarely ever responds to that. I imagine he does the same with their father. He texts with a bunch of emojis.

The captain only ever refers to the other characters by their rank and surname, except for Emil when they're alone together. If he warms up to someone, his narration will refer to them by their legally given name (ex: Léonardo for Leon, Roxanne for Roxie). He also whips his rulebook out of his cape or hat when he needs to recite a rule, though sometimes he'll do it off the top of his head. He never calls the Interstellar Forces by its acronym.

Angelo never refers to his brother by name, only calling him Big Brother. If he gets to the point where a lump forms in his throat while crying, he can't speak and has to communicate some other way. Usually texting works, but if he's upset enough to be shaking, that results in typos. He also holds his arms when he's really upset.