Some do, some don't. In terms of dialogue style, some arrive fully formed, and some take a while to develop a distinctive voice. I'm working on a second draft at the moment, and one of the characters is only just developing his voice now...

Me, too, Debbie: sometimes, but not always. But, I can eavesdrop on other people in real life (the one vice of which all writers are absolved!), and think to myself, "Oh, my character would say that!" and scribble myself a quick note. I'd rather they all talked to me all the time, but I'm happy to be able to recognize their voices when I hear it. If a character isn't talking to me...that's quite often a sign I don't know the character well enough: I've drawn him or her too generically, and need to go back and make more specific choices and give the character more specific goals.

My characters don't speak to me, I become them. I'm like Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost with them leaping in and out. Definitely my acting background plays a role in this. I do all the voices, all the accents. Sometimes in my head, but I prefer it if I am alone in my big comfy chair. I cry when they cry. I grimace, smile, give high fives right along with them. It's definitely my favorite part.

Shaula Evans wrote: If a character isn’t talking to me, that’s quite often a sign I don’t know the character well enough... Bingo! Couldn't agree more with this. Here's a trick I use for writing pre-created TV drama characters that can also be used for original film spec characters. When you're a hired gun on British TV dramas, you must be able to write the regulars in their own distinctive voice. To do that, I will transcribe whole episodes until I have the cast of characters all talking in my head. That enables me to hear how characters would speak in other situations i.e. the ones I'm writing. So, how does this apply to original spec characters? Find a person whose attitudes are a good fit for your character. Record them in conversation and transcribe. Hey presto, you can write a character in the voice of that person. Well, it works for me!

Good trick, David! I have a number of people in my life whose "lines I can do" at the drop of a hat. Basing characters on real people whose voices I know well is a similar trick.

I've been thinking about "dialogue tricks", and "hooks" are another one. In acting, a "hook" is the word or phrase you use to trigger an accent. For example, say "razor blade", only pronounce it "raizor blaide". Now, keep your mouth the same shape, and say, "The dingo ate my baby." Congratulations: you can now do an Australian accent. (Don't believe me? Try it out loud.) In the same way, with writing, sometimes the right hook can open up a character's voice for me. Think of the people you know in real life and the characteristic things they say: "This is serious!" "Well I'll be cow-kicked by a mule!" "The thing is..." I'm not saying to necessarily have that character use that line, but if the line opens up the character's speaking style (and the underlying mindset), go for it. Back to acting. In "The Year of the King," Antony Sher's book recounting his year of preparation to play Shakespeare's Richard III, he tells how he would go into the theatre before it was open to the public, stand on stage, point at each seat in the theatre, and to each seat say "Fuck you." By the time he was done...he was Richard. If actors can do it, there's no reason writer's can't. (There's a lot we can learn from actors.)

Oh, look: a recent post from Ken Levine on what makes (comedy) characters easy or hard to write. Hint: if you can't hear your character talking, maybe you haven't given him or her enough flaws.

I find dialogue is the one part of writing that comes really easily for me. For the majority of the characters I know, I can't get them to put a sock in it! There are one or two though for whom, trying to get them to string a sentence together is like trying to teaser out a splinter. You pick at them from lots of different angles but they're still all below the surface. But I figure, you know, that's just their personality. They're quiet dudes. I don't beat myself up about the fact I have a few quiet kids in the fold. I love them because of their differences, not in spite of them. I do know what you all mean about not knowing them well enough. I have what I have considered up to now this minor character, just present enough to give the plot momentum but she did something today that I just could not fathom. I was a bit shocked to be honest. I really didn't know she had all this backstory. All of a sudden her motivations and actions make a lot more sense. No amount of talking to her would have revealed as much as seeing her previous behaviour. This lady is just subtext, subtext, subtext. And all this before I'd finished my brekkie. The Quest is working on overtime... But then I had to go to my real job. And I just want to include something someone asked me yesterday that may help you all along because it revealed a lot to myself, it got me thinking about random events, some recent, some decades ago "What well were you drawing from when you wrote this?" And before you ask, it was NOT a psychiatrist! Well guys, what's in your well? And what's hidden in your character's well? Don't peer too closely, you may get dragged in... to the story....

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