Sometimes I find that speech in books is very different from speech in real life. Same with thing people feel and what they do.
This often annoys me. It makes the story feel less believable, even for fantasy novels! It doesn't give me the feeling that the characters are real.
Why? Well the speech or feeling doesn't match the character and so we don't feel like that character is a bit stretched.
My thoughts as to what to do about this are quite simple. My number one suggestion is to go through everything about your character. Where do they live? What do they like? How does this affect them? What is it more likely that they are going to think because of this? Not what sounds awesome.
Another good thing you can do is go through your own thought. For example, what would you think if you found fairies existed? What would you say? I'm sure you wouldn't accept it at once which is what a lot characters in novels do and those characters always annoy me and seem unreal.
How character's thoughts and feelings match up to who they are and what happens and where they come from is really important. It is important for it all to make sense. If a character is a guard you expect him to be very hard to sway, but if he is a young child then he will be easy.
That of course if very extreme, but I'm am just trying to show you how important the speeches and feelings are.
I hope this helps!
What do you think? Do you think that this is important? Do you have any ideas to help people make sure that they're character's thoughts, speech and feelings match the character themselves?
-Sophia
I agree, the way people react in books is very important and very hard to get right. I once wrote a draft of a book (now sadly shelved) where people from a fantasy world came into the modern world and it was a real exercise in getting inside the characters' heads to have them react in the right way. I have found that the best way to get a character to act naturally is to really get to know them. At least, that's what works for me. A lot of the problems I have had to fix in my books involve the way people act. Like, why would a certain character be persuaded to help another character when he doesn't like to get involved with anyone. In the heat of first drafting, I tend to let such things slid, but in edits, these should be taken out and shot forthwith!
ReplyDeleteIt is hard work. Have you ever tried interviewing your characters? It really helps!
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