#it’s so funny looking at my vocabulary and typing habits and realizing what I’ve picked up from whom

[tentacleteapot]

by its very nature Homestuck is full of “this would never work in any other story” elements, but one that I think tends to get overlooked comes from a very specific way dialogue is handled.

for context, due to the sheer amount of characters that eventually get introduced, nearly every character in Homestuck has some sort of ‘typing quirk’ used to make it easier to distinguish who is currently talking, either verbally or via instant messenger. this, used in conjunction with the fact that most characters’ dialogue is written in a uniquely colored font, makes it much easier to know who’s saying what at any given time.

it also means that jokes involving people doing impressions of one another, or moments where characters use each other’s typing quirks as shows of affection, are even more effective. I pick up a lot of verbal and typing habits from the people I talk to a lot — there’s a reason I almost never capitalize the first letters of the sentences I type, and there’s a reason I eventually adopted keysmashing into my written vocabulary — and I LOVE being able to incorporate someone else’s typing quirk into a message I’m writing, to indicate that I’m quoting them, ‘pronouncing’ a written word the same way they did, or just showing how strongly I agree with them, and the moments that Homestuck did the same thing have always stuck with me. there’s something so sweet and almost intimate about it, about borrowing someone else’s typing affectation just as a way of subtly showing who you’re thinking of or who influenced what you’re currently saying. it’s certainly not something that could only ever exist in Homestuck but it’s used to great effect there and I appreciate it every time.