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Just figured out a way to stop my characters from all sounding the same...
I was stuck because every person in my story talked like me, you know? So I tried something my friend told me about, which is to write a short scene where two characters argue about something simple, like where to get coffee. I did it for ten minutes before my main writing time. It sounds silly, but it forced me to give them different voices right away. Has anyone else tried a warm-up trick like that to make dialogue feel real?
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grayb642mo ago
Where to get coffee" as the big argument? Man, my characters would just stare blankly and ask why we aren't fighting about something important, like whether a hot dog is a sandwich. That's a real personality test. But hey, if it works, it works. My warm-up is usually just staring at the wall until my brain agrees to function.
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wilson.emma2mo ago
Honestly grayb64 has a point about the hot dog thing being a better fight. Maybe it's just me, but the coffee debate never feels that deep. People just like having strong opinions on easy stuff.
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elizabeth_gonzalez1mo ago
Staring at the wall until your brain works is the only real warm-up. I saw a meme that said the hot dog debate just proves we'll fight over anything to avoid real problems.
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