It's All Just Words....

[said_scarlett]

So rivendellrose came along to Market today, and we got to chatting about fanfiction and dialogue. I know for me, some character's dialogue comes extremely easy, and some makes me pull my hair out in frustration. Some characters have a more fluid speech pattern, while some have a speech pattern that's so rigid any deviation seems glaringly wrong. Prime examples of these in the HPverse are Moody and Tonks. They both have very set speech patterns and very colloquial speech patterns. And dialogue, for me, is as much a factor of IC as anything else.

Moody's is very gruff, almost working class sounding. He doesn't use many big, long words. Reading dialogue in which Moody says something like 'this place has a foreboding feel to it' jars me massively. Cultured speak from Moody seems to me to be OOC and out of place.

Tonks' is very sharp and truncated. She's one of the few characters we see who uses slang. She uses a lot of contractions, short words and a boisterous choice in vocabulary. I've seen Tonksfic where she sounds cultured and sophisticated, which kills it for me. The only time it worked for me was in rivendellrose's fic which was a take off of 'My Fair Lady'.

For Highlanderverse, Joe springs to mind. Joe uses a lot of slang, a lot of metaphors in his speech, and a lot of rougher vocabulary choices. He also uses less-than-modern slang, which fits his character well. Modern slang terms and flawless sentences don't work for him. Take any conversation between him and Methos and you'll see a huge difference. He also uses lots of grunts and monosyllables. If he doesn't have to say the whole word, he generally doesn't.

The opposite goes, too. Cultured, elite characters suddenly speaking in coarse language or using rough slang. And it can be difficult keeping dialogue consistent with characters like that. I've rewritten more dialogue than anything else, honestly. And coming across badly written dialogue in fan fiction bothers me just as much as OOC character actions.

I also have the most amazing pocket watch in all existence. It has a skull and crossbones on it.

Comments

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Dialogue is SO important to whether or not a fic comes across right; once you get past basic technicalities of proper writing, nothing puts me out of a fic faster than seeing a character use words or sentence structures that just don't ring true with them. Harry is not going to start sounding like something I'd write in an essay, nor is Snape going to suddenly start talking like a teenager. Richie is not going to use a lot of complex sentence structure, whereas Methos might, but only in certain circumstances.

If it's well-done, I hear the character's voice in my head speaking the lines. If not, it's time to spend a while longer thinking about how that character uses words.

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

Snape dialogue gets me a lot, but honestly, I've been reading the actual books and have had Snape!dialogue seem out of sorts to me. I have major admiration for those who write spot-on Snape!dialogue. arionrhod, the_con_cept and dalhessian spring to mind immediately when I think of writers who write Snape!dialogue well.

I'm also massively impressed by anyone who writes Duncan well. His speech pattern practically doesn't exist! He doesn't have any key sentence structures, vocabulary choices or formations. It's insane!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Snape dialogue is TRICKY, and I say that as someone who often writes as Snape! Tonks is MUCH easier.

And I want your pocket watch. A lot. You should at least post a picture of it!