How does your character talk?

Kodaza

Piggybacking on the comment by @Zaila on idioms, I always try to give that a racial tinge. On a surface level that means using puns and other wordplay, but also keeping an eye out for language  that wouldn't become internalised by a non-human.

So Kodaza, with her Atavian background, would be very likely to say "a bird in the hands is better than two in the bush," but she would NEVER EVER say "kill two birds with one stone."

For a real example from a couple days ago, Kodaza was talking about the history of warfare between the Indorani and the Illumimai with @Vyxsis and @Sarisa and, at one point, I typed out "crush their enemies underfoot." I immediately backspaced before sending and considered.

Kodaza flies! Walking is fine, sure, but Atavians are at home in the air and treetops. "Underfoot" is a phrase she'd understand, sure, but her mind wouldn't reach for it automatically the same way mine would.

I typed "crush like a fly." Still no good! For one, insects share the air with atavians and birds, so Kodaza wouldn't think of it as a pest but a neighbor. If a fly is in her personal space, she can just flap away instead of swatting it like a landlocked creature would. And besides all that, Vyxsis is there, so it'd be HELLA RACIST.

What's small and insignificant to birds, I asked myself. What's just alien enough to them to be an acceptable target, the way bugs are slightly alien to us so we don't mind killing them? And finally, what's an atavian concept of savage predation look like?

So in the end, I typed out "crush them like a field mouse" and that's what I hit enter on. I didn't explicitly mention a hawk swooping down, &c., because I wanted it to stay an idiom. Kodaza wasn't trying to paint a fancy metaphor, she was just making an automatic turn of phrase like we all do a hundred times a day. But taking into account her non-humanity took me a hot second.

Eliadon

Aryanne said:

Uhhhhhhhh.
Aryanne definitely doesn't speak like me for the most part. Her dialect/accent/whatever has just sort of developed over the years and is definitely very distinct. I don't even really have to think about it at this point, it just flooooows. Ary swearing is going to include "bloody" or "pit" at worst.

Particularly-modern slang will irk me, generally, but "cool" or "like" wouldn't qualify as those in my head.

I generally play it that the more agitated/upset/flustered/etc. Ary is, the worse her Ary-speak gets.

Nicing the not on the playing without.
Losing the stress on the nip. Notting without the needing of care.
Riding the rile of the rids to the right.
Wasing the was of brightness. Nip the having of wishing of this.
Ever wasing the doing of this.

Zaila

@Eliadon

Daresay, I've rather not the slightest notion whatever you've gone off and about just yet! Is rather not to say was a foolish bit of a thing or the sort, only just that've not quite proper enough of a mind to put it all about to the notion you're meaning it to be! Am dreadful sorry as ever a thing.

Caolan

@Eliadon Wasing not of wasing is.

Kadal

Kadal's way of speaking is pretty stilted and with mixed up words or stumbling. I try to reference it in the emote so I don't get overly repetitive with stuttering or stumbling or t-t-t-t-t-t and all of that. I do try to keep to some consistent inconsistency with when/how he pauses longer, just to try to represent what's going on in his head. It started as sort of a throw-away concept and has morphed into a sizable chunk of code and I worry I'm a little far down the rabbit hole sometimes.

I also try to use phrasing that indicates a lack of confidence, the difference between 'The bar is red' and 'I think it's red' - though I admit I might slip from time to time with choosing words there.

Finally, there's definitely times where his speech is gibberish or difficult to understand, but that's sort of the point, and the words picked are either ones he heard substituted for a similar-ish sounding one he meant to say, or an almost synonym. 'Talent' might become 'skill', or 'forever' might become 'fortune'.

I also try to not go TOO overboard with anything like that because I'm well aware it can be a headache to muddle through - but I also fully accept people not wanting to put up with it/finding it annoying on an IC or OOC level (and kind of welcome it on the former).

Sofiel

@Akaryuterra That's a good suggestion, and I'll definitely keep it in mind. I've always embraced the jarring nature of the written stutter, as I think it accurately reflects the audible counterpart. Halting speech is hard to listen to, even frustrating ("Just spit it out already!").

But that said, I certainly don't want to put anyone off interacting with my character. I've always planned for Sofiel to either (depending on how events unfold) eventually overcome and master her anxiety, or be crushed by it to an unlivable extent. I think that in this particular setting, without the benefit of counselling or medication, those are the only two reasonable outcomes.

But in the meanwhile, I'm going to try incorporating methods like your example. Thanks!

Shachalai said:

I am super curious as to what you mean by "modern speech" outside of contemporary swearing. Beyond like, specific swear words, what throws you?

Yeah that was a bit vague, no doubt because I haven't analysed it too deeply myself. I suppose I'm referring predominantly to slang. e.g.:

"Dude, that was legit awesome," or, "Get lost, loser."

As opposed to:

"Most impressive, friend," or, "Begone, you feckless wastrel."

...Neither of which serve as a very good conversion for those extreme examples, haha. Far too dry. But hopefully that explains my meaning a bit better.

Axius

@Eliadon Nice Eastern Street Slang. highfive for fellow reader of Brandon Sanderson

As far as how Axius speaks.. well. His vocal intonations is actually rather unusual, as he actually has a -double- voice in a sense. While it's not exactly pronounced (I don't emote it in often), his voice is a dual layer that if you actually listen, you'll hear a softer, higher-pitched toned voice underwoven beneath his normal deeper voice. a sorta callback to his Xenomorph inspirations I guess, even though his tongue is most -certainly- not a mouth-in-a-mouth sorta deal but instead like a normal tongue, but elongates down to like.. center of his chest freely, and is prehensile for it.

Getting off track here, his typical choice of words is a lot different in front of most people.. than it is in his own mother tongue, which he barely spoke when he was a child as it were. There's history reasons behind it, but let's just say that when he speaks Nazetu, his language gets sour very quickly, and his voice shifts from speaking clearly to almost mumbling under his breath, only just loud enough for anyone close by to hear, but rarely intended to be -heard-.

Example of the double voice:



Try to pick out the higher toned voice from the timestamp up to "shoulda-woulda-coulda-woulda". That's sort of the tonal thing I'm trying to indicate.


Edit: Darn thing didn't timestamp, point starts at around 32 seconds in.

Rhyot

So take this with as many grains of salt as you wish.... but I tend to have Rhyot be short spoken, harsh, and highly abrasive. He doesn't beat around the bush, he doesn't care if what he says will offend someone, he calls things as they are, and he doesn't curse. In a way, he holds himself to a higher standard and even with those he communicates with, he holds to a high standard as well, even for a short time that they're talking.

In that, what I mean is, if someone is stuttering (yes, I have had decent RP conversations with stutterers) Rhyot gets a little angry, but he refuses to show any outward emotion at all but merely wants to get to the point of the conversation faster because in his mind they're wasting time with their stuttering. But he won't show his anger or frustration as he's a vampire and a Chaos Lord and as such, he sees himself as above such petty things. If someone curses, he merely tells them "Language" and more times than not, the people he talks to understands he doesn't approve of crude language. If they continue, he walks away (except for Ishin... he has an understanding with Ishin that it doesn't matter what he says, Ishin is going to curse anyway and even though it irritates him, Ishin won't stop). Hell, I've outright not finished conversations with people because they wouldn't stop cursing around Rhyot.

I will say though, that I do find myself backspacing a lot and getting frustrated because sometimes I do want to have Rhyot curse or be a little more.... idk, approachable, if you will. So most times, Rhyot's adopted a 'Mmm.' phrase tick that he starts with at some point either because he's not sure what to say or I'm just overly frustrated that I can't type out what I would want to type out if I wasn't playing Rhyot as Rhyot.