Dialogue as Part of Characterization

[ubiquirk]

A recent comment about the frequent use of suss instead of its synonyms in my HP story ‘Conspiracy Theory’ gives me the perfect opportunity to get swotty about a subject I love. Dialogue

Comments

[veradee]

I enjoyed reading your fic and can't say that I found Hermione saying "suss" jarring in any way.

But like miamadwyn I think that certain characteristics when it comes to a character's vocabulary can be jarring - even if they might be an excellent example of how that character speaks. I'm reminded of Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye (first-person narrator, I know), whose very limited and repetitive vocabulary I found incredibly annoying. It's possible that Salinger did a very good job on how boys from a certain background spoke back then, but it drove me up the wall, and I'm afraid if Salinger had told me that this speech pattern characterises Holden, it wouldn't have helped me at all. It probably comes down to one's preferences. While Holden Caulfield's vocabulary annoyed me, I'm sure other people were convinced by it, and vice versa there will be characters whose vocabulary I find convincing while other readers think it's annoying, repetitive etc.

[ubiquirk]

Ah, as I replied above, I think some of it is also country specific. I've lived in England and had friends who used suss constantly. For me, a British person saying suss a lot is not something that would ever sound odd. If I hadn't lived there, I would probably note it each time it's used because it's not a US word, but that doesn't make it wrong for a British character.

I thought Salinger did an excellent job with Catcher, but again, maybe part of it is I'm American.

I suppose my pet peeve is probably clear above - I get annoyed by stories where the characters sound too much the other way, so far from real people that I can't believe in them.

[veradee]

Well, the more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that I prefer characters whose spoken voice rather resembles written speech. I don't mind slang and swear words, but I'm not really a fan of realistic, but ungrammatical half-sentences that are interspersed with "uh" and "hmmm". Listening to that kind of dialogue is fine, but reading it tends to get on my nerves. But it's very interesting to think about it and find out one's own preferences.

[ubiquirk]

Too many uhs and hmmms would be too much - but the occasional one can really show a confused state of mind to the reader quickly without the author 'telling' it.

Nonetheless, I still think that sets of favorite words for characters should be used even if you don't do the other things.

[veradee]

Nonetheless, I still think that sets of favorite words for characters should be used even if you don't do the other things.

Yes, I agree, but despite this I prefer the dialogue to be on a more formal level as long as it doesn't go totally against the characters, e.g. Hagrid.