5 things your character can't do while speaking

5 things your character can’t do while speaking

ladysybils:

j-moriarty:

olympicked:

Choke. Just think about it, seriously. Think about what choking is and imagine speaking while it’s happening. That would fuckin’ hurt, man.

Hiss. Look, it’s just not possible, okay? No matter how “evil” you want your character to seem.

Snarl. Animals snarls. The Beast from Beauty and the Beast snarls. The Hulk snarls. You know who doesn’t snarl? PEOPLE WHEN THEY’RE SPEAKING.

Shriek. Come on, 99% of the time, “shriek” is not the word you want.Let’s face it: if you put an exclamation point at the end of the sentence, your reader gets the picture. Don’t bring to mind banshees and screaming toddlers.

Sneer. I’m not even going to bother explaining this one. “SNEER” ISN’T EVEN A SOUND.

wow i’m sorry i’ll change how i write because i have boring readers

#seriously #the character isn’t LITERALLY choking #or hissing #OR SNARLING #i just #please #come back when you understand creativity

okay maybe I wanted to bring to mind banshees and screaming toddlers?

OKAY JUMPING INTO THIS because I agree with all previous commenters but also want to expaaaaaaaaand because THIS ISN’T SAID OFTEN ENOUGH :D

SO. Sometimes these descriptions work, sometimes they don’t, but that comes down to style and context and writing far more than rules of what characters should or shouldn’t do, right? Of course you can’t do many of these while you talk! Of course! But then again the colour of sky can’t be sharp like sting, or whatever, and a voice can’t cut through silence, and a moment can’t ACTUALLY hang heavily between two people, but that’s what language does! WHOOPAY! It takes prescribed and the arbitrary and adds imagination and emotion and shit and gives you something that feels like an experience. Making these work? THAT’s creativity! YOU KNOW WHAT THAT SOUNDS LIKE A CHALLENGE TO ME I WILL TAKE THIS CHALLENGE I WILL DO THAT

Choke. You can choke out words. Haven’t you ever choked out something you equally did and didn’t want to say, so you just pushed it out in a rush of words? Choked it out of yourself? Or when you’ve just been running after someone cuz you forgot to give them that thing you borrowed and you’re like, “Your—” and you heave a little before choking out, “keys.” No, the actual sound isn’t a choking sound, but the notion of shortness of breath, of maybe constriction, of perhaps personal struggle in whatever you’re trying to say is perfectly conveyed. My emotionally stunted characters constantly choke stuff out, and I don’t really think it’s ever bothered anyone. And don’t get me wrong! People have commented before with things that bother them about my writing! I just don’t think choking has ever been one of them, and I really don’t think it’s something writers should be awfully worried about.
Hiss.Awcome on! Hissing! Okay I’ve heard this a lot over the years. You can’t hiss, you are not a snake what are you doing stop that you are not a snake, blaaaaagh whatever I like this one just fine. Let’s do an excerise in ~imagination! Okay so you were in need of a fake boy/girlfriend for some reason, for some fancy gala or whatever because you want a RAISE yay this every romcom ever! And one of your friends suggested this person, and then it turned out you know them from years before and oh no you hate them but hey look at this sezzual tenzion! And then you’re at the gala and they’re kind of satobaging your image bcuz it’s lolzy to them and you can’t berate them where everyone can see so you drag them to a corner by the crook of their arm and then yank while you hiss a sharp “Stop this!” between clenched teeth. AGAIN, the sound isn’t actually a HISS, cuz blah blah, but it conveys anger and the quality of speech when you clench your teeth. It does things. Totally get it if it’s not your fav, or preference, but hey, give it a chance—or at least try and accept that some writers feel this is the proper word to describe their character’s actions. Lol just wrote garacters. Garage characters! From now on I’m calling characters that are only ever seen or described in garages, garacters
Snarl.WELL TRY AND TELL THAT TO ONE JAY KAY ROLLIN’—all any slytherin ever did was snarl or sneer. Which was fine with me, btw. I grew up trilingual and while that might sound like I had three languages, what it actually meant is that I spoke ONE language that was made up of bits and pieces of three. For me, ‘snarling’ got mixed up with some other words along the way and so I have no issue in using it in describing most upper lip movements. I know it’s a bit wrong, buuuuut I don’t really care? It works! IT WORKS GUYS! ISN’T THAT WHAT WE’RE AIMING AT IN THE END, things working? Beside that, I still think it’s a valid thing for a character to do. Not all characters, perhaps, but if you have a character that resembles a certain animal, or maybe their personality is one you want to associate with the act of snarling—or perhaps even just with the S and N sound! ALSO A TOTALLY VALID LITERARY CHOICE! As long as it has a contextual reason and it works, then go for it. I don’t have a lot of characters snarling in my stories, but that has to do with my stories more than the nature of that word. Conclusion: do what feels right! Ps, dogs can be characters too :)
Shrieklolololol hey, banshees and toddlers are totally characters! But we’re talking about speaking. Look, I feel like I’m starting to repeat myself, but—heck, maybe this is not said often enough: if it works, it works. If you can’t tell if it works, try other things, compare, ask someone who cares (EMPHASIS ON THE CARES! Nothing suckier than a random family memeber who just shrugs and goes, Idk but hey have you seen the soup ladel?) Let me tell you, as a reader, as a writer, as a weary lit theory student, I feel there is overall way too many people shouting about the things YOU MUST NOT EVER DO EVER—and way, way too little encouragement to simplytry.I have my own rules when I write, but that’s only what works for me, and my own babbly way of telling stories. Tips I can give, way to inspire yourself or get started, but generall I feel that ‘do not’ lists are not nearly as much of a help as ‘try this’ lists. Over the years I have read many a story/attempt at poetry written by fellow students who, in the spirit of literary theory, have kept to a very strict set of rules—and they all, without fail, withoutfail,sucked balls. Nothing comprared to what I’ve found around here. Someone can totally shriek “WHAT WHAT WHAAAAAAAT!” or “I CAN’T BELIEVE I DID IIIIIIT!” and yes of course the caps and exclamation marks convey plenty, but hey—sometimes it works. Are you annoyed by me saying that yet? Shall I shriek it at you? SAAAAAM TAAAAIMS IT WEEEEEEEEEEEERKS
Sneer.Ok I have to agree on this one you sneering is balls

JUST KIDDING

WHATEVER WEEEEEEEEEEERKS

:D

now off everyone scampers off you go writing

Or eat, eating is good too yes yes both are good yes

(Source: trekyourself, via oddthingsinthedark)