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Literature Text
These are more like observations in no particular order or consequence (and again, don't apply to every character), but should come in handy with bringing your character to life. Best of luck!
The younger the child, the more intimate the dialogue.
Consider the difference between a five-year-old child calling his mother "Mommy" and a teenager using "Ma" or "Mother".
Nicknames are important.
They also indicate a closeness between characters or an affinity for another character.
Important things are given important names.
There is a good reason that the child's favorite stuffed dinosaur is named Mr.Dino.
Young children tend to use their own terms to describe something if they don't know the proper term.
Until the child learns the proper term for a magazine, it's a "floppy picture book."
Save the bigger words and the more intelligent speech for the older child.
Younger children have a limited vocabulary because their experience is limited. There are some exceptions to this, however (like Bean from Orson Scott Card's Ender series who was genetically engineered for exceptional intelligence). Exceptions aside, it can be a bit strange to hear the word "soiree" coming out of the mouth of an eight year old.
Generally, children will start to use slang at school age.
This is because they are interacting with other children and want to fit in.
Younger children are more direct with their questioning and dialogue.
Consider the age-old question "Where do babies come from?". Children generally have yet to understand the importance of appropriateness in a conversation.
Children are generally more honest in their speech.
Deception is learned in time. Children don't see or completely understand the need for lies until they are older.
Children ask questions. A lot of questions.
A child cannot gain a greater understanding of the world around him or her without asking questions to learn how it works.
Mispronunciation is ok.
It's silly to expect that a child should have a complete handle of their given language.
Repetition and mimicry is ok.
Children will often repeat phrases or mimic dialogue of older characters. This can indicate a fondness for the character who is being mimicked, a need for directness, an emphasis on the importance of the phrase, or that the character is simply learning something that he or she has never heard before.
The younger the child, the more intimate the dialogue.
Consider the difference between a five-year-old child calling his mother "Mommy" and a teenager using "Ma" or "Mother".
Nicknames are important.
They also indicate a closeness between characters or an affinity for another character.
Important things are given important names.
There is a good reason that the child's favorite stuffed dinosaur is named Mr.Dino.
Young children tend to use their own terms to describe something if they don't know the proper term.
Until the child learns the proper term for a magazine, it's a "floppy picture book."
Save the bigger words and the more intelligent speech for the older child.
Younger children have a limited vocabulary because their experience is limited. There are some exceptions to this, however (like Bean from Orson Scott Card's Ender series who was genetically engineered for exceptional intelligence). Exceptions aside, it can be a bit strange to hear the word "soiree" coming out of the mouth of an eight year old.
Generally, children will start to use slang at school age.
This is because they are interacting with other children and want to fit in.
Younger children are more direct with their questioning and dialogue.
Consider the age-old question "Where do babies come from?". Children generally have yet to understand the importance of appropriateness in a conversation.
Children are generally more honest in their speech.
Deception is learned in time. Children don't see or completely understand the need for lies until they are older.
Children ask questions. A lot of questions.
A child cannot gain a greater understanding of the world around him or her without asking questions to learn how it works.
Mispronunciation is ok.
It's silly to expect that a child should have a complete handle of their given language.
Repetition and mimicry is ok.
Children will often repeat phrases or mimic dialogue of older characters. This can indicate a fondness for the character who is being mimicked, a need for directness, an emphasis on the importance of the phrase, or that the character is simply learning something that he or she has never heard before.
Literature
The Chronology of Storytelling
Imagine you're reading to a live audience. It can be as big or small as you'd like. It can be your writing or someone else's. It doesn't matter. Indulge yourself in the fantasy. So you're reading to a live audience. They're enraptured. They're engrossed. They're generating a movie in their heads as you weave your tale. Imagine how important every word you produce is to these movies. Every detail you provide adds another layer. They smell the flowers. They feel the roughness of the brick. They see the vivid colors of the clothes.
And then you require they perform time travel to make the movies accurate.
Wait. What?
The chronology, or order
Literature
Plot Twists - A Few Quick Tips
First things first--plot twists have to be planned if you really want to pull them off. It’s hard to add a good or even passible plot twist after you’ve already started planning and writing your story. If you think you need a twist because what you’re writing doesn’t seem able to stand on it’s own or isn’t interesting enough without a twist, adding a one in isn’t going to help much. You’ve got to plan the twist from the beginning so that it make sense and, while it still surprises the reader, they won’t feel like you cheated or tried to pull one over on them.
Once you know why your story
Literature
Exercise: Your Character's Distinct Voice
The purpose of this exercise is to see how much you've differentiated each of your main characters' voices from each other.
How to Use
Pick a few major characters in your story. (I recommend using between 3 and 6.) For each of the numbered prompts below, choose what each character would say in that circumstance. You may want to write a few sentences of dialogue from that character or a quick internal monologue.
These lines are meant to generate short pieces of dialogue (about 1-5 sentences), as it's easiest to compare lines to each other that way. If you start writing long paragraphs or another character's reply to your character, then sto
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Done as a request from and to supplement The Amazing Dialogue Guide.
You can use this exercise to help you work out your own character's dialogue.
Again, this material is subjective (as are the results of said incorporation into your own work). You do not have to follow these tips if you find them unhelpful. This is not a "be all, end all" guide. Your writing is your own.
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You can use this exercise to help you work out your own character's dialogue.
Again, this material is subjective (as are the results of said incorporation into your own work). You do not have to follow these tips if you find them unhelpful. This is not a "be all, end all" guide. Your writing is your own.
© 2011 - 2024 Jazeki
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Nice guide, pretty accurate; I found myself mentally checking items off with regards to my own observations about children. I'd like to add a couple more observations:
If a child likes something, he/she must let the rest of the world know how FREAKING AWESOME it is: (related to several other items on this list) This may not always happen if the child is shy and/or interacting with a stranger, but if interacting with friends/family or if the child is particularly outgoing... "You gotta come check out this awesome new Skylander figure I got! He's got fire attacks and he's super strong! And look, I've got this other one named Thumpback, he's a huge whale!" It is then up to the hapless adult to feign interest while having toys/cards/whatever shoved in his face with the utmost enthusiasm.
Extreme reactions: The things that, as adults, we are not supposed to do anymore. Can be either negative or positive or somewhere in between. Negative reaction: throwing temper tantrum when told that he can't have that toy. Positive reaction: squealing and shrieking and jumping for joy when daddy brings home a puppy