#munday...? it's thursday oxendine what are you doing

[through-fire-and-flame]

📝if you would still be accepting this ask game!

[ one thing i'm actually very proud of when it comes to my writing is my dialogue - as a recovering theater kid and playwright, dialogue is crucial to me when it comes to good storytelling when and if that storytelling involves conversations, etc.

dialogue is at once a vehicle for moving a character forward in a story and telling the reader more about them in very specific ways that can sketch them out more fully and more elegantly than, say, simply outlining their thoughts, beliefs, etc. in inner monologues

(mind you i love a good inner monologue and don't begrudge anyone who DOES rely on that technique, "elegantly" here has a given value of Chez's Whack Ass Opinion and not any kind of authority on the matter)

figuring out ways to include mannerisms, dialects, slang, etc. can give you this whole new way of characterizing your muse; if you can nail that and sound natural and conversational, you've got most of what your muse gets up to in roleplay figured out, as far as i'm concerned

if i had to pin down one thing i struggle with when it comes to laurentius, it's this: the bugger likes to hear himself talk, and while his pseudo-Pratchett, affable personality is extremely fun to write for, i sometimes worry if i chase after being clever/witty too much for a character who ostensibly isn't spectacularly smart going by his in-game statistics

but ultimately i'm extremely proud of the work i've done with him in terms of dialogue - while he might be too clever, he is at least usually pretty funny, and sounds natural and friendly when i read what i've written out loud to myself

if the worst thing i've got going for me is that i'm too witty (this is not the worst thing i have going for me, the worst thing i have going for me is my overreliance on a voice and phrases that border/s on overused) then i think i'm doing okay ]