Tips for Young Writers 15: Don’t let your characters say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ too often.

Don’t let your characters say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ too often. If you listen closely to the way people talk (and that’s a great thing to do if you want to be a writer) you’ll discover that people rarely respond to a direct question with a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’. Instead, they’ll more often answer with an explanation. For example, ‘Weren’t you meant to be here ten minutes ago?’ asked Mrs Brown. ‘My bus was late,’ replied Alex. Notice that Alex didn’t respond with ‘Yes’, she just launched into an explanation. That’s how most people speak, so have your characters speak the same way. It’ll make them seem much more real.