Monday, April 14, 2008

Sense words

A technique for adding a touch of individualness to a character's dialogue is to pay attention to what sense-related cues a character uses. I'm sure there's a technical term for them. People tend to stick to one type of sense & visual words are the most common:

I see what you mean.
That doesn't look good.
Do you want to look into it?

Instead, someone could say:

I hear you.
Do you want talk about that?

That doesn't feel right.
How do you feel about that?

Of course, this should go beyond just word choice. A character who is aurally inclined is going to behave in a slightly different ways to a predominently visual person. Do they give verbal directions or draw a map? Do you talk a lot when nervous? Make frequent eye contact? Or touch people for reassurance? Look? Listen? Do?

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