I have been glancing over my notes lately on the conversation flows between characters and trying to make them sound realistic and convincing. So far, I have found that the differences in the characters speech patterns are starting to make a bit more sense and also lessen the cluttered nature, still something I'm working on though.
Originally, most all of the characters have had a similar, if not identical way of talking, but as anyone will tell you, no two people talk exactly alike. I've tried to give each one of the characters a different "tone" persay, as in: Chase Jules, his usual speeches have some measure of smart-ass about them as that is his personality. Jon Gray on the other hand, is a bit more soft spoken and and careful with his words. Two opposite ends of the spectrum, but both coexist very well due to the established unwritten boundaries that come with being teammates in the world in which they live. In a sense, the blending of personalities is a good way to bring the characters to life and make sure that they can live peacefully and not have any measure of conflict of interests. Any, if at all, comes via circumstantial and situational triggers that can be quick resolved.
Same thing goes with the way in between male and female characters in their speech patterns. This part I'm still working on, as it common knowledge that unless there are major influences in life on the behalf of the speaker (such as a female being raised as more of a tomboy than "girly-girl"), most of the time - she is not using stereotypical "male" words that are exchanged. Rather, I find the female speech pattern a bit softer than a male's in terms of tone and context. Again, this is more the rule than the exception and there are plenty of the latter.
The conversations between Travi Gladius and Allison Kadmus have really befuddled me over the years as it takes some doing to get inside the mind of a woman (if it is even possible to begin with), and find out exactly how they would respond in certain situations. One of the main things I am faced with is trying to reintroduce the pair of them in the story as an item while not exactly rushing it along as that would destroy and eliminate a very important plot point in the later chapters when it comes time for Allison to finally confess that her feelings had not changed in the years that the duo had been apart. Developing her character over these many years, she has become the most complex character out of all of the supporting protagonists and I have had to consult my gal friends on several subjects pertaining to her and to a lesser extent, Adele Lancaster - the team's pilot - who would fit more into the exceptions above as I designed her character to be in line with more of a "tomboy with female traits", in that - she is "one of the guys" normally, but also knows that special occasions call for special circumstances and exceptions in that she is not afraid to get fancied up if the occasion dictates so, such as at the end of the book.
Moving into chapter four now and one thing I have really concentrated on is the slowing of the pace of the story and delving more into the day-to-day activities of the team, hopefully without killing the story in the process. As it continues, things pick up as the missions toward finding out the true meaning behind the Project Alpha attacks continues to build. I have also added in some subtle hints that Mark is working for his own ends, which adds another element to it all in how devious and truly evil his character is and can be. I plan to try and showcase this more as I go, hopefully making it all into an interesting story that has a good mix of action, espionage, dark tones, and romance to make it intriguing. Building the characters up, especially Travi, over the course of the book is proving to be quite the chore, but I think its starting to flow a bit better now and I'm actually starting to like the way that things are moving with it. Perhaps I may finally get somewhere with this writing project and not have it be collecting dust on the shelves for months/years at a time.
More later, adieu.
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