How To Make Someone Stutter In Writing

Writing Characters Who Stutter.

@indidoughnuts asked:

Any advice on writing a graphic symbol who talks with a stutter?

We're both in luck here, considering ane of the main characters in my jump novel, Nosotros Are, We Are Monsters, has a slight stutter, and they say there's no amend way to truly larn something then to teach information technology!

Fore note: Considering I have no firsthand experience in stuttering, this article draws heavily from a number of reliable sources, which will be all cited throughout.

What is a stutter? A speech disorder, also known every bit stammering or diffluent spoken communication. Information technology generally includes some variation of repeated words, sounds, or syllables, halted speech mid-sentence, and an uneven rate of speech. [1]

i. Choose specific rules for your character's stutter and stick with them.

If you're going to portray stutter that's both realistic and readable, you'll need to know how and on what sounds your character stutters, and then stick to them. Choose specific sounds to employ the stutter on (Gabrielle Massman recommends between three and seven [three]), and familiarize yourself with the three basic forms of stuttering [2]:

• Repetitions of sounds or syllables; "Li-li-like this" or "Like-like-like this."
• Prolongations; "Llllllllike this."
• Blocks; "Fifty—ike this."
  

Yous can hear recordings of each of these stutters hither. [5]

In one case you know which sounds your character stutters on and how that stuttering primarily comes out, you'll want to decide on how you'll portray the stutter through writing. You tin discover a few forms of this in the to a higher place examples. Other possibilities include using ellipses or commas:

• "50…l…like this."
  
• "L, l, similar this."
  
• "Like, like, like this."
  
• "L… like this."
  

I personally detect that the en-dashes, em-dashes, and commas provide much a more fluid reading of a stutter then ellipses, but ellipses can create a fatigued out effect, if that's what you're looking for. Withal y'all cull to write each type of stutter, the key is to be consistent with information technology.

Let your readers grow used to seeing the aforementioned few stutters throughout the story, so they tin can read the stuttering for what it is, without beingness pulled out of the action.

two. Don't forget the other means a stutter may effect someone.

Just 1% of the population of our earth has a stutter. If your grapheme is growing up in a similar stutter-less environs, they will go through a diversity of techniques, hidden actions, and emotions while trying to get their message across [1, 3, 5]:

• Hesitation or pauses before speaking,
  
• Calculation actress filler words or sounds into a judgement. (Uh, um, er, etc.)
  
• Stretching out a discussion in social club to forestall a repetition or block.
• Rearrangement of words in a sentence or repeating the sentence in a new style, particularly using synonyms in place of the meddlesome word.
• Repetition of phrases or full sentences, especially in order to overcome a block.
  
• Refusal to speak or finish a sentence or word.
  
• Tension or frustration while speaking, frequently resulting in abnormal breathing or physical changes such as tics, tremors, and tightness of posture.
• A higher amount of stuttering when under stress.

Stuttering also furnishings the emotional and mental land of the person with the stutter:

"Yet, people who stutter tend to blame themselves. They grow up continually hearing Calm down, Speak slower, and If you put your mind to information technology, you won't stutter anymore… The feelings and attitudes y'all feel can exist as much a office of the disorder as the stuttering." [five]

Before you write your character who stutters, yous'll want to consider how the stutter effects them beyond the concrete, and throughout various situations.

• How does your graphic symbol feel about their stutter?
  
• How do they view themselves in relation to their stutter? Has this changed the way they view themselves as a person?
  
• What do they feel when they stutter in front of people they want to impress? In front end of strangers and passers-past? In front of people who're accepted to and accepting of their stutter?
• Do they now, or have they ever had the pick of speech therapy? If this is speculative fiction, does their world even have speech therapy, or perhaps in futuristic worlds, practice they accept applied science to correct certain types of genetic stutters?
• If this is speculative or historical fiction, also consider the way the general population they live in views people who stutter? Are they pitied? Outcast? Believed to have a connection to a item deity?

For farther research, I would highly recommend reading the firsthand account of someone who stutters hither [4], and more about the psychological furnishings of stuttering hither. [5]

iii. Know what non to exercise.

Equally at that place are things yous should do when writing a character who stutters, there are also things you should avoid [3,four]:

• Don't apply dialogue tags to describe stuttering ("they stuttered") if you wrote the stuttering into the dialogue itself.

• Don't write a stutter into the graphic symbol's thoughts! This is both unrealistic and highly insulting.

• Avoid writing a stutter multiple times in a single sentence unless the grapheme is under high stress. People who stutter don't stutter every unmarried time they hitting a sound that's difficult for them.

• Don't use stuttering equally a symptom of nervousness or shyness. Stuttering volition grow worse during times of stress, but a person who stutters won't lose their stutter when they stop existence nervous or shy.

• Never have your graphic symbol "overcome" their stutter as a result of their effort or character development! If you don't understand why this is wrong, y'all absolutely need to research disability and the proper ways of portraying characters who take disabilities.

• Don't let your graphic symbol be merely a stutter. A person who stutters will be greatly effected by their stutter, only they will also be effected by a million other parts of their life, from upbringing, to personality, to desires, to genetics and beyond. Your character who stutters should be only every bit fleshed out and unique as every other character you write.

iv. Bonus:Acquire why people stutter in the offset place.

There are a scattering of factors that determine whether or not a person will stutter, and research is still needed to analyze many of these further. A few things that influence stuttering include [one,6]:

Genetics. lx% of people who stutter have family members who also stutter.

Child Developmental. Children with developmental stuttering may grow out of it, peculiarly with the aid of voice communication therapy.

Neurophysiology Abnormalities. (Abnormalities in the nerves.) Tin can be caused past brain injury.

High stress upbringing. Especially impacts children who already stutter.

Psychological trauma. With increasing research, this is establish to exist a very rare cause of stuttering.

References for fact checking and further reading:

[1] Stuttering, past healthline.
[2] Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania. (This website was running when I started researching, but concluding I checked was in the process of moving…)
[3] How to Write Stuttering, by a writer who's father stutters.
[4] A Reply To 'Writing Stuttering Character,' by a person who stutters.
[5] I Have A Voice.
[half dozen] The Stuttering Foundation.

Edit: This is a proficient tumblr postal service with a few additional situations.

Source: https://brynwrites.tumblr.com/post/166482101094/writing-characters-who-stutter

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