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“Look,” I told her. “We’ll never know what happened out there. I say we just send the spirit away and go home.”

She shook her head. “It won’t leave…not now, anyway. Isn’t settled…”

Although you’re coming into the story somewhere in the middle, without really knowing the characters, you still get a “feel” for each of them simply by reading this short passage of dialogue. One character is more analytical, trying to make sense of what they’ve seen. The other relies mostly on feeling and instinct, taking a more direct approach to the situation. Two distinct individuals.

But the question is, “How do we know this?” Certainly there’s a bit of narrative here, but not much. Most of what we know we learn from the spoken words. And I’m not talking about the information here. Instead, I’m referring to way these characters speak. For example, notice how the analytical character speaks in complete sentences, in larger concepts. The woman, on the other hand, speaks in short bursts, using clipped sentences and fragments. Each of these speech patterns relates directly to the characters and who they are.

People are unique in their physical characteristics, the way they dress, and how they view the world. We use these things to paint portraits of people in fiction and nonfiction. But it’s important to remember that people also speak in unique ways. And those speech patterns tell readers just as much about that person as anything else you write. In fact, a unique method of speech often creates a deeper portrait. The readers actually hear the person, as well as seeing your visual description. And that can be a powerful tool.

To achieve this, start listening to the way people speak, paying particular attention to some of the following aspects of speech.