@indidoughnuts asked:

Any advice on writing a character who talks with a stutter?

We’re both in luck here, because one of the main characters in my spring novel, We Are, We Are Monsters, has a slight stutter, and they say there’s no better way to truly learn something then to teach it!

Fore note: Because I have no firsthand experience in stuttering, this article draws heavily from a number of reliable sources, which will be all cited throughout.

What is a stutter? A speech disorder, also known as stammering or diffluent speech. It generally includes some variation of repeated words, sounds, or syllables, halted speech mid-sentence, and an uneven rate of speech. [1]

1. Choose specific rules for your character’s stutter and stick with them.

If you’re going to portray stutter that’s both realistic and readable, you’ll need to know how and on what sounds your character stutters, and then stick to them. Choose specific sounds to employ the stutter on (Gabrielle Massman recommends between three and seven [3]), and familiarize yourself with the three basic forms of stuttering [2]:

• Repetitions of sounds or syllables; “Li-li-like this” or “Like-like-like this.”
• Prolongations; “Llllllllike this.”
• Blocks; “L—ike this.”

You can hear recordings of each of these stutters here. [5]

Once you know which sounds your character stutters on and how that stuttering primarily comes out, you’ll want to decide on how you’ll portray the stutter through writing. You can find a few forms of this in the above examples. Other possibilities include using ellipses or commas:

• “L…l…like this.”
• “L, l, like this.”
• “Like, like, like this.”
• “L… like this.”

I personally find that the en-dashes, em-dashes, and commas provide much a more fluid reading of a stutter then ellipses, but ellipses can create a drawn out effect, if that’s what you’re looking for. However you choose to write each type of stutter, the key is to be consistent with it.

Let your readers grow used to seeing the same few stutters throughout the story, so they can read the stuttering for what it is, without being pulled out of the action.

2. Don’t forget the other ways a stutter may effect someone.

Only 1% of the population of our world has a stutter. If your character is growing up in a similar stutter-less environment, they will go through a variety of techniques, subconscious actions, and emotions while trying to get their message across [1, 3, 5]:

• Hesitation or pauses before speaking,
• Adding extra filler words or sounds into a sentence. (Uh, um, er, etc.)
• Stretching out a word in order to prevent a repetition or block.
• Rearrangement of words in a sentence or repeating the sentence in a new way, especially using synonyms in place of the meddlesome word.
• Repetition of phrases or full sentences, especially in order to overcome a block.
• Refusal to speak or finish a sentence or word.
• Tension or frustration while speaking, often resulting in abnormal breathing or physical changes such as tics, tremors, and tightness of posture.
• A higher amount of stuttering when under stress.

Stuttering also effects the emotional and mental state of the person with the stutter:

“Yet, people who stutter tend to blame themselves. They grow up continually hearing Calm down, Speak slower, and If you put your mind to it, you won’t stutter anymore… The feelings and attitudes you feel can be as much a part of the disorder as the stuttering.” [5]

Before you write your character who stutters, you’ll want to consider how the stutter effects them beyond the physical, and throughout various situations.

• How does your character feel about their stutter?
• How do they view themselves in relation to their stutter? Has this changed the way they view themselves as a person?
• What do they feel when they stutter in front of people they want to impress? In front of strangers and passers-by? In front of people who’re accustomed to and accepting of their stutter?
• Do they now, or have they ever had the option of speech therapy? If this is speculative fiction, does their world even have speech therapy, or perhaps in futuristic worlds, do they have technology to correct certain types of genetic stutters?
• If this is speculative or historical fiction, also consider the way the general population they live in views people who stutter? Are they pitied? Outcast? Believed to have a connection to a particular deity?

For further research, I would highly recommend reading the firsthand account of someone who stutters here [4], and more about the psychological effects of stuttering here. [5]

3. Know what not to do.

As there are things you should do when writing a character who stutters, there are also things you should avoid [3,4]:

• Don’t use dialogue tags to describe stuttering (”they stuttered”) if you wrote the stuttering into the dialogue itself.

• Don’t write a stutter into the character’s thoughts! This is both unrealistic and highly insulting.

• Avoid writing a stutter multiple times in a single sentence unless the character is under high stress. People who stutter don’t stutter every single time they hit a sound that’s difficult for them.

• Don’t use stuttering as a symptom of nervousness or shyness. Stuttering will grow worse during times of stress, but a person who stutters won’t lose their stutter when they stop being nervous or shy.

• Never have your character “overcome” their stutter as a result of their effort or character development! If you don’t understand why this is wrong, you absolutely need to research disability and the proper ways of portraying characters who have disabilities.

• Don’t let your character be merely a stutter. A person who stutters will be greatly effected by their stutter, but they will also be effected by a million other parts of their life, from upbringing, to personality, to desires, to genetics and beyond. Your character who stutters should be just as fleshed out and unique as every other character you write.

4. Bonus: Learn why people stutter in the first place.

There are a handful of factors that determine whether or not a person will stutter, and research is still needed to clarify many of these further. A few things that influence stuttering include [1,6] :

Genetics. 60% of people who stutter have family members who also stutter.

Child Developmental. Children with developmental stuttering may grow out of it, especially with the aid of speech therapy.

Neurophysiology Abnormalities. (Abnormalities in the nerves.) Can be caused by brain injury.

High stress upbringing. Especially impacts children who already stutter.

Psychological trauma. With increasing research, this is found to be a very rare cause of stuttering.

References for fact checking and further reading:

[1] Stuttering, by healthline.[2] Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania. (This website was running when I started researching, but last I checked was in the process of moving…)[3] How to Write Stuttering, by a writer who’s father stutters.[4] A Reply To ‘Writing Stuttering Character,’ by a person who stutters.[5] I Have A Voice.[6] The Stuttering Foundation.

Edit: This is a good tumblr post with a few additional situations.