I'm back with more ways to develop a character. If you need a refresher go back to "Characters (Part I)." Anyway, great characters are characters who have quirks, itches, motivations, and so on and so forth. Here is some questions that will bring your characters to life.
Distinctive speech patterns can mark a character as... well... distinctive. Marilyn Monroe, for example, talks in a breathy, superficial way; or Robin Williams, he talks in a manicfasthardtocatchallhiswords kind of way. So, when developing your character's speech patterns, here are some questions to ask:
Does your character speak formally or informally (diction, structure, etc.)?
Does your character cuss?
Are there distinctive phrases your character uses? A phrase (maybe one or two or three different phrases) that they use over and over again that marks them and their nature.
Does your character use regionalisms, slang, jargon, etc. (i.e. "ain't"). Do they speak in a way typical of the area they live in or the profession they are in?
Are there typical sentence structures (i.e. a series of fragments, never actually finishes sentences, etc.)?
Your character's speech pattern should fit their personality (and their personality should fit their speech pattern). All the exteriors should line up and not contradict each other. (If you remember, I go into more depth about "exteriors" in Part I.)
I hope this helps develop those life-like characters; I know it helps me. And as always, these are mere suggestions, tools in a writer's toolbox. These are not a checklist where you include (A), (B), and (C), and voila; it doesn't work like that. No. Instead, you use what is helpful for you--the writer.
Stay tuned for Characters (Part III)... I know, real creative.
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