How to Write a Mute Character in Your Story

Writing a mute character can be challenging, especially when trying to communicate their thoughts and actions effectively. Here are some techniques and conventions that can help you capture the essence of your mute character without over complicating the narrative.

Speech and Sign Language Representation

If you are working with a character who is mute, you have to find ways to convey their communication without relying on spoken words. One approach is to use single quotes for signing and double quotes for spoken speech. For example:

Ivy walked into the patient's room. “My name’s Ivy Carter, what’s yours?” She moved her hands more slowly than usual. “Would you like a drink?”

This method helps distinguish between signing and spoken speech, making the text more readable and less cluttered with descriptive tags like ‘she signed’ or ‘she spoke’.

Alternative Convention: Using Em-Dashes

Another approach is to use em-dashes to represent speech, as seen in European writing. This method adds a touch of exoticism but can be more intuitive for distinguishing between signing and spoken words:

Ivy walked into the patient's room. —My name's Ivy Carter, what's yours. She moved her hands more slowly than usual. In a book I've been working on, featuring characters speaking in both English and French, but both languages are written in English, I use this convention to distinguish the two, and it works quite well.

However, using em-dashes can make it more difficult to interweave language and description. To mitigate this, you can use brackets:

—Would you like a drink? asked Ivy. Or maybe some food.

Focusing on Body Language

Instead of using words like 'said' or describing tonality, focus on your character's body language. This adds a layer of realism and helps readers visualize the character's actions:

“So, my name's Ivy Carter. What's yours?” she slowly signed. Ivy's hands moved excitedly as she signed, “Would you like a drink?”

Thought Representation

Thoughts often need to be conveyed in a clear and concise manner. Words like 'thought' in italics can help denote a character's internal dialogue. This is particularly useful for mute characters as it shows what they are 'signing' internally:

Thinks: Whatever they are about to sign, there are some cues that show they are also signing it. Once the convention is established, you don't have to keep coming up with words for 'gesticulated.'

Establishing a Conventional Approach

To establish a clear and consistent approach, you can create a convention or signal that indicates when a character is signing. For example:

Nick's hands were a flurry of frenetic signs. How dare you!!! All I wanted was to have my voice heard and you had to go and make it all about you!

This method removes the need to constantly describe the actions, making the narrative smoother and more engaging. Sally, on the other hand, can interject in the same way:

Sally was not going to give in. She interjected, “You always do this! I make an effort to do something nice and all you do is find fault in my nice gesture!”

Conflict and emotions can be further amplified through the intensity of the signing. For example:

Nick gave in to a fit of rage at her shifting the blame. So, you spent all of 10 minutes sending out a group text to your friends and suddenly you are Mother Theresa. You didn’t even bother to invite any of my friends and this is supposed to be my birthday! His hands slapped together with each word he formed, the anger leading to a slight tremor. He went on to say more but Sally did the unthinkable. In an unforgivable fit, she closed her eyes! Both souls stifled back tears. They both knew they had some looming deeper conversations, but neither of them wanted to be the one to initiate that talk.

Conclusion

Writing a mute character requires a combination of subtle hints, clear conventions, and vivid body language. By focusing on these elements, you can create a compelling and engaging narrative while maintaining clarity and readability for your readers.