#the topic you've been spared was btw national identity in turkey the death of the ottoman empire and the birth of the republic of turkey

[breitzbachbea]

🌻.

👀

I feel Directly Looked At

Sent me a 🌻 and I'll tell you whatever the fuck I want

I originally planned to talk about something else I found very fascinating, but hadn't gotten the chance to talk about a lot anywhere yet. I've even begun to research and think about what I'd have to tackle before I could comfortably talk about the topic. However, I ultimately realized that the topic would also have to involve some immensely gruesome and traumatizing parts of history and it wouldn't be fair to dump that onto someone without warning.

So let's talk about speech patterns instead. I'm a writer, you're a writer, that sounds like fun, eh?

Whenever I make new characters or try my hands on someone else's character (whether it'd be Himaruya's or the one of a friend), the way they talk is the most important thing. A nebulous personality is what emerges first with a new character; they'll get a name when I fully commit and a design much later. (I'm bad at designing characters and my first instincts are usually very boring, so I don't run with them anymore. Instead I ask a friend for help and do some research to get inspiration).

I think a lot in dialogue. Conversations between characters are usually the first thing I write to friends when I am playing with a character concept. @amber-isnt-a-precious-stone and then @fireandiceland got what officially constitutes the first "outing" of two Egyptians a little while ago - a dialogue between them, aph Egypt and also aph Greece and Turkey. Now, of course, something that is essentially nothing more than a shitpost scenario, isn't very fleshed out. Neither of the two have a very "distinctive" voice yet but you can definitely get a first glimpse at what kind of people they are.

Let's use a more familiar example to dissect some speech patterns - let's take a look at Arthur Kirkland and François Bonnefoy.

Arthur tends to talk very formally, even when he's upset. The sarcasm, slang and curse words increase then, but that's about it. Even when things have a very blunt feel to them because they were stated outright, he still uses a lot of words to make his point. This is actually something I want to change when I write him in the future - I love stuffy Arthur, that's great for business, that's a gentleman. I even think it makes sense he tries so hard to always come off as put together and unmoved in my AU - Arthur had to take over his father's business at 17 years old. But it makes him seem more villanous and plot device-y than is fair. My biggest Englishmen-related concern for my rewrite of Irish Problems is anyways to make them feel more like a group of friends, found family even. Like their antagonists, the Irish and Sicilians. (Drop the professionalism and get into the clown car, you three, you are not above deeply caring for one another because it's mostly the only family you got left & y'all have an inherently caring side). I want more of the bratty, punky Arthur to come out when he talks with Robert, one of his right hands, about football or anything else. Robert's much more flippant tone isn't a sign of disrespect, it's just who he is. I'd like to think that Robert caring so little would also make Arthur feel comfortable when his own feelings aren't 'presentable'. Sometimes you just gotta be really pissed at a pair of annoying Dubliners together. Bonding <3. Tahir tends to talk more like Arthur, carefully choosing each word because the man does have a law degree after all. The way familiarity shows between them is that Tahir is choosing his words either overly careful to keep up the illusion of professionalism; and Arthur responds in kind, but often overexaggerates the politeness that it's on the brink of sarcasm. He's amused and essentially wants to signal It's very nice of you to care about me, but don't worry, I'm not a kid. I'll be fine. I think around Tahir, he also rather displays deadpan snark if he's pissed off, since that is Tahir's usually show of annoyance or true displeasure as well. Sometimes I think he's too pissed off even around him and it's pure, straight up raging that he's more prone around Robert. It's still another admittance of closeness - because god forbid these Brits show any emotions usually.

François parallels Arthur in a way. His words are, too, often carefully chosen, but he's rather guided by sounding pleasant than polite. François strings long sentences together to pack an emotion in a beautiful metaphor. He's good at treading on eggshells if needed and prefers to not state hurtful things very bluntly - sometimes because he doesn't want to hurt the other person and sometimes because sugarcoating it with sarcasm or a cold smile hurts even more. François IS much more outwardly emotional, he prides himself on it, but ironically, like Arthur, he hates truly seeming out of control. He wants to give his emotions room, the fun that comes with it and he wants to invite others to do the same - he however doesn't want to have his heart broken. He doesn't want to truly show weakness that could bite him in the ass. So even when he gets upset, he chooses flowery language; long sentences that, even if they're full of curse words, tend to sound like they're some monologue from a play. Blunt and artless, ugly, is not how he wants to be seen at all costs. That's not true with the people closest to him, though. Désirée often talks in ramblings and much more bluntly than he does and while François never really comes close to her speech pattern, he also adopts a more casual tone when he talks with her for a longer amount of time. That's where crude cursing is the most likely to occur. It was probably a really blunt rant after Désirée just went too far with a joke that made her realize she really fucked up and has to consider consequences more with people she really does like. He and Arielle mirror each other in their speech patterns - they grew up with each other after all. Very artful, Arielle even more so at times since she also likes to write poetry and artsy prose in her free time. Arielle is much more likely to get more vicious in her annoyance and displeasure than him however. Which is why he also tends to keep his usual speech pattern of carefully chosen, intentions at least thinly hidden enough for it to sound better than what it is, if he tries to placate her. Only in true moments of vulnerability for both of them, he drops it for the most part to make sure Arielle knows that he means it.

The way Arthur and François talk with each other ... they love their back and forth. They like each other's wit, sarcasm, they love the mastery the other has over language. Sometimes, of course, they still get hurt; sometimes Arthur's cold sarcasm still stings and François' deadpan, cynical observations twist something in Arthur's stomach. But they know each other better than anything. François' tends to call people petnames all the time, Arthur uses the mostly sarcastic "dear" or "love" much more sparsely. But they have petnames they only call one another, there's a bluntness that is only reserved for each other. Because there's no pretenses to be upheld here, for better or for worse. Their sentences shrink, because they don't need a lot of words with each other at the end of the day.

Anyways, lemme know if this was in any way interesting, if you agree or disagree etc. Also, as a bonus, have Team England & Team France from my AU!

I'm still a bit sad I didn't give any more concrete instructions so that Arthur ended up in his uniform instead of a suit but oh well This was done by the lovely Haku, here's their Ko-Fi page! From left to right we have Tahir Rashid, our local rat bastard Arthur Kirkland and Robert Bailey.

This is from a sketchdump by my friend C0FFINATED over on twitter. It's probably my favourite thing in existence, NOTHING will ever top François' disappointed but not surprised "why are you like this" stare for Désirée. From left to right, François Bonnefoy, Arielle Halévy and Désirée Dupont.