How To Write A Character That Stutters - Tumblr Posts

Hey hey! (Fellow?) Stutterer here! I 100% agree, but I will add, block stutters aren't

"L-ike this"

It's more of... And I'm dead serious,

". L- kind of- s-SIMILAR TO THIS!"

:>

how would you properly write dialogue for a character with a stutter? ranging from a barely noticeable one to a very extreme one. thanks!

How to Write Dialogue for a Stuttering Character

@brynwrites made an excellent post about this that I found while researching and it can be found here. It's a long post but it goes way more in depth than I did.

Types of Stutters:

Repetition of certain sounds: “Li-li-like this” or “Like-like-like this.”

Prolongations: “Llllllllike this.”

Blocks: “L—ike this.”

Rules for Stuttering: (This is mostly for block stuttering, but many apply to other types of stuttering as well. provided by this article)

Stuttering occurs on the first sound of the word. It will not occur mid word or on the first full syllable. (s...s-ample. NOT sam...sam-ple)

Do not write a stutter more than once in a single sentence or three times in a single paragraph. If the scene is a high-stress situation, you might be able to get away with it, but your readers do not want to read block paragraphs of stuttering.

Choose 3-7 sounds for your character to struggle with. People tend to get blocks on particular sounds. For example, b, p, k, w, g...)

Use another synonym for the word they are struggling with. Example: "You look g...g... really pretty."

Don't have your character stutter in every conversation. Under high stress, the stutter will be more frequent, under low stress they may not stutter at all.

If you use the dialogue tag, "he stuttered," do not write the stutter in the quote. If the character is stuttering in their sentence, you don't need to write out the fact that they were stuttering.

Do not write a stutter in thoughts. People with a stutter do not stutter in their thoughts. Just don't do this. It's unrealistic and insulting.

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