Writing: Characters and Dialogue

For some odd and antisocial ( to me) reason the lead character, the Time Traveller is anonymous- his name is never given. it is not really explained hoiw the machine works. There are no really defined personality types in the novel which seems to suggest there are different species and nature or circumstances controls their actions- this is lilke ( and to me is silly_) the argument if you live in New York you have to ( Root fot the Yankees) personally I could not care less about baseball. There is no real love interest in the novel- as this would require such conversation as ( well Mr. Inventor- what is your name, and where do you come from? there is no explanatory device such as a force field or magnetic screen which would permit vision and hearing but not two-way speech ( like the Phantom Zone in DC comics- or the real life video screens used to combat crime ( in a sense) Stop and think= in order to have a love interest one would, first off (D"abord- on deck! have to establish names for the characters. somewhat oddly a crime drama managed to have the lead ( human, not super-hero) character remain anonymous- this was, of course, the Lone Ranger, count me out.

Bruno and boots

a play

What makes anyone more memorable than anyone else? If a character is more believable, more realistic, and more entertaining, you will remember him or her better. A flat character, without any real traits, won't be remembered.

You need to invent your own names - writers who copy ideas from other people end up in trouble for plagiarism! If you copy someone's names or ideas, then when you publish your story, they could claim you stole those from them and sue you for part of your money.

I use online name generators for the names of my secondary characters - the main characters, I take my time and choose special names from baby name books!

Click on the LINKS for character name generator websites!

Chanda, the true main character

Mama, the mother of Iris, Soly, Chanda, and Sara.

Mrs. Tafa, Chanda's annoying neighbor who they lived with for a while when the family had no shelter.

Jonah, Chanda's step-father

Esther, Chanda's best friend

Iris, 6-year-old sister of Chanda

Soly, 3-year-old brother of Chanda

Paradise is usually just called Paradise in most religions.

There are about 15 characters in the lottie project

It makes the story feel as if it is happening in real time.

NON examples ...... I don't understand what you're asking. Anything that is not dialogue is a "non" example. Here are some related questions about dialogue though.

No, only descriptions of the person's appearance or personality.

Not really. Mood is something that comes from the characters, not the other way around.

Do it in italics, I do in my stories:

For example: I heard a gun shoot from somewhere. Great, I though, I knew I shouldn't have let Dean interfere with this, he's just a kid...

Ect, Ect.

Third person, I think, is what youare looking for.

A complicated character is one that is more than just a "cardboard cutout." Real people are complicated - they have flaws and strengths and things they're ashamed of and dreams and bad habits and all sorts of gray areas in their personalities. The more a fictional character resembles a real person, the more complicated they are - and the more interesting they are to read about.

Dialogue is just speech written down. It serves the same purpose that speech does: to convey information.

Characters can be shown through their dialogue just as through description! Actually, "hearing" a character speak gives you a better idea of who they are.

When writing dialogue, give each of your characters a specific way of speaking - do they use long words or short words? Do they curse a lot or not at all? Do they speak in complete sentences or just short, broken fragments? Thoughts are just dialogue that never makes it out of the mouth, so it's just as good at describing the character.

Also give each character specific mannerisms and actions, so that the reader will recognize them instantly. In this way, your characters will be more lifelike and believable.

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Think about this for a minute and you can figure it out. Would you read all the way to the exciting part of a story without ever meeting the main characters? No way.

Here's the original question about naming your characters.

well, it's kind of like describing the setting so you can better visualize the book. If you know your surroundings and how people act, you will have a better understanding of the plot.

Here's a good link to show you how to invent superhero names!

You need to invent your own names - writers who copy ideas from other people end up in trouble for plagiarism! If you copy someone's names or ideas, then when you publish your story, they could claim you stole those from them and sue you for part of your money.

I use online name generators for the names of my secondary characters - the main characters, I take my time and choose special names from baby name books!

Click on the LINKS for character name generator websites!

Often, a character's outfit can reveal many things about him/her such as their status in society, the amount of spending money they have, their interests, and sometimes even their moral values.

In the first instance, a character who is dressed to the nines and wears respectable clothes will often attract more people than someone who wears unkempt clothes that look like they haven't ever been washed simply because they look and most likely have more class and self-respect.

The next one is quite obvious. A character who is flaunting a six hundred dollar Gucci purse and designer clothes most likely has more money than a character who is wearing an outfit from the Goodwill.

As far as interests go, sometimes describing characters in certain clothes will inform the reader details about the girl/guy in your story. Instead of telling the reader that your character is a fan of a certain band or is a part of a certain school club, try telling the reader that they are wearing a shirt with the band's logo or school club's initials. You can also use this as a scheme to make connections from your character to other characters, for example two girls could start talking because one girl liked the band on the others' shirt. That could be the opening conversation for an unexpected friendship.

Finally, character traits. This one is pretty self-explanitory. If a character is wearing revealing clothing considered "slutty" by society, the reader will most likely make the assumption that the character is very uninhibited compared to a character who constantly wears dresses and suits.

Writing dialogue is not as hard as you're letting it seem. You have dialogue all the time -- it's called talking. If you honestly cannot think of what your characters are going to say to one another, you need to go take a break and go somewhere out in public. Sit somewhere in the middle of a crowd for one to two hours and just listen to people talking. Then, go home and write down some of the things you heard people saying. That's dialogue.

Surely you've been in a class where you scored less marks - what sorts of things did you and the teacher say? If you don't know, maybe you can ask some of the other students what they would say in such a case.

When you need to have your characters talk, just pretend it's you and a friend (or several friends), and have them say something you'd probably say in the same situation. Then imagine what your friends would say in reply, and go back and forth that way. As you become a better writer, your characters themselves will "tell" you what they want to say, because they become like real people to you.