Writing Existing Character Voices For Fanfic

Writing existing character voices for fanfic

Hey, so, I started doing a writeup a week ago about how to get character voices in your fanfic to sound “in character,” in response to a comment from a new writer I was beta-ing for. 

I’ve been told this is a thing I do well.

As someone who studied dialogue extensively for a theatre degree, I tend to do this reflexively now, and I don’t write out each individual step. But I put some thought into how I might break down the process if I was new at it and looking to get better.

I don’t think it’s actually that different than an actor studying character accents, except as a writer you’re breaking down meaning rather than sound.

Let’s take a look at what makes dialogue unique to a character. I’m gonna list these as bullet points first, and then I’ll suggest some exercises to explore these aspects of speech.

Most important aspects - focus on these first

Vocabulary - the words they use. As subset of this:

Complexity of words, which can include:

Syllable length

Likelihood to be used in casual conversation - a character can be very smart and still use very informal language.

Cultural touchpoints

Culture can include pop culture references - think Tony Stark’s nicknames for everyone, i.e. “Point Break” and “Underoos”

How in or out of sync the character is with the story’s setting with regard to both time and place - are they from a different country or era of time than their peers?

Important - Check these out if you have time

How likely the character is to speak their mind vs. change the subject - this could be for any number of reasons, from fear to duplicity

Amount they say / Introvertedness / how reticent they are - This is somewhat related to the above point, but not necessarily, and should be researched from different angles. Subverting a topic is not the same thing as being afraid to talk about it.

Different ways of speaking with different characters - this could be a function of story (i.e. how a character who is captured speaks to their captors as opposed to friends) as well as pure Code Switching

Deep cuts - Advanced aspects of speech

Fluency in the language they are speaking

Accents - You do not have to write a character in an accent, i.e. spell the words differently to show the accent, if you don’t want to. It really depends on the piece (usually how light hearted or humorous you want it to be) whether you do or not.

Okay, this is all well and good, you say. But HOW do I incorporate this into my writing?

Dialogue analysis exercise

Find five (or more, but at least five) representative lines from your character’s canon dialogue.

If they don’t speak, don’t have five lines, do the best you can. (I imagine other forms of communications can probably also be analyzed in this way, but I’m gonna focus on dialogue for now.)

These are going to be your key phrases. They need to be from canon and they need to be words that really show off who your character is.

Say the words out loud. Read them again and again. What do they sound / feel like?

What is the average syllable length? How many long words do they use?

Do any words jump out at you as archaic? What about modern pop culture references?

What is a different way they could have said this? Write some alternate versions of this phrase and figure out WHY the character didn’t say it this way instead. What is the difference between the canon dialogue and the alternative? Try to be as specific as possible. It’s as important to know what they wouldn’t say as what they would.

Look up any of the more complex words and find some similar ones, with a similar level of complexity. Use a thesaurus you trust and possibly also Wordnik. If your character doesn’t use ANY complex words, reflect on that. Why? What’s their reason? How does that fit with the rest of their personality?

Think of some other characters from other pop culture pieces who speak in a similar way. It doesn’t have to be 100% the same, but if it can help your ear get used to some new-but-different phrases, it’s enough. You’re training your brain to speak like the character. Start to sort phrases they would say from ones they wouldn’t. How do these two characters differ?

Now that you have worked thoroughly through your key phrases, start to imagine these lines said in something other than the original context. What if they were said to a different character? WOULD they even be said? What would change? What would happen if your character was scared / hurt / overjoyed / sick?

Finally, after all that, write some NEW dialogue for your character, either as practice, or right into your fic draft. Keep using your key phrases as a guide and go back to canon as much as you need to! You can do this!

After all of this, you should feel significantly more confident in writing that existing character into your story. Huzzah!

If you found this at all helpful, reblog and / or leave me a note. I’m curious to hear what you think.

questions for an author

i was tagged by the talented @shallow-gravy (thank u!!!!)

Name: Lila

Top 5 Fandoms Written: oh wow i WISH i’d written for 5 fandoms.  but really it’s just red dead, a tiny dash of the last of us, and i’d like to get into the vampire the masquerade fandom.  maybe fallout new vegas.

Top 5 Fandoms You Want To Write For/More: i guess i already sorta answered this above.  but three more fandoms i’d like to write for... hm.  From Dusk Till Dawn, for sure.  Twin Peaks would be fun to write for, but i have no idea how i’d even go about that, tbh.  & i’d love to write for the mafia franchise.

Stories You Wish More People Knew About: fanfic or original fic?  well, for fanfic, anything i have bookmarked on ao3 is something i loved and wish everyone would read.  for original fic, i just read this short story for class called “The Third and Final Continent” by Jhumpa Lahiri, and yeah, it’s pretty famous but also it’s just so good i want everyone in the world to experience it.  i also loved “Night Road” which is a Choice of Games interactive fic about a courier vampire so yeah.  I still haven’t shut up about that one.

Ship(s) Written The Most: Arthur Morgan and my oc Constance!  My only ship I’ve written in years.  Uh... did used to write Bella/Edward. ngl.  but i’m not proud of it ok.

Character(s) Written The Most: Arthur lol.

How Many OCs Do You Have: a million!  but only a few have seen the light of day and they all exist in memories of the west.

How Many Series Do You Have: just memories, right now.

What Do You Do With Fics You’re No Longer Interested In?: cry and stare at them longingly and stare at all the moodboards i made for them to try and revive my love.

Coming Soon: eventually more memories of the west.  i’m also trying to write a few vtm things.

Line From A WIP:

I sleep in the red neon light of the hotel sign.  When I was a kid, Grandma put up curtains to keep the light out, but the dark frightened me.  In the dark, thoughts of the devil are likely to run rampant.  So I never close those curtains.  Better to see the devil coming.

Grandma’s certain he’s around every corner - and after all, she picked the most likely city for that to be true. 

Do You Accept Prompts?: uh yeah!!! that would be cool as hell if someone asked me to write a prompt awww

How Do You Feel About Kudos?: ajdklajdlakjdkajal they’re the best

Do You Read Fic As Well?: DUH!!!  there are so many talented folks in my favorite fandoms.  i’m so lucky to get to read their stuff honestly :’)

i’m tagging @electriicfleur and @alwaysupatnight and @odddragon and whoever else would like to participate :)

See more like this at https://blog2collectionsanfavs.tumblr.com/   

it’s the Summers’ gunslinger outfit now

Tag Game

i was tagged by precious @alwaysupatnight!

three ships: sethkate (thanks to alwaysupatnight), courier x lettow (from vtm night road, which is an interactive novel i’m in love with), uhhhh fledgling x nines rodriguez, even though char is gonna give me shit for his hair cut if she sees this lmao

last song i listened to: sandpaper kisses by martina topley-bird

currently watching: From Dusk Till Dawn (again, thanks alwaysupatnight lol)

currently reading: rereading Wayhaven Chronicles (thanks to @electriicfleur) and following char’s advice to do a love triangle playthrough to break my own heart. 🤡 also reading Interview with the Vampire. 

how’s it going? good, good, good!!!  i wanna move to Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho… but i’ve literally never been to any of those states lmao. guess red dead’s still got a hold on me

tagging @electriicfleur, @shallow-gravy, @bighobbitfeet, and literally anyone else who would like to do this :)