The trick that finally fixed my bland dialogue scenes

I kept writing conversations where everyone sounded the same, like they were reading from a script. Then I tried giving each character one specific verbal tic, like a habit of repeating themselves or using weird metaphors. It took maybe 3 tries to get the hang of it, but now I can tell who's talking just from their lines. Has anyone else tried something similar to fix flat dialogue in their drafts?

2 comments

2 Comments

evanfox1mo ago

True, though I once spent a whole page trying to give a character a lisp and it just came out looking like a typing error.

west.alice1mo ago

Ugh yes I did that with a stutter once and it looked like my keyboard was broken.

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