|
The Life and Mind of DamnBlackHeart
This is to help me stay actively writing. So expect to see rants, tips on writing, thoughts on subjects, me complaining of boredom, reviews, anime, movies, video games, conventions, tv shows and whatever life throws at me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dialogue: Robots, Androids, Cyborgs, etc. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
When it comes to robots, androids and other artificially-intelligent machines with the ability to talk to humans, they very often do so in a flat and monotone voice that’s devoid of emotion. In the past, the dialogue of such characters appear to be unrealistic. They are advance creations and it’s ridiculous that they couldn’t convincingly mimic human speech, or simply make records of it into its memory bank.
But again, that was in the past and it wasn’t a territory that many truly explore. Nowadays, with how advance technology is and continues to grow, it’s a lot more common for machines to duplicate and mimic sounds, including speech. So it wouldn’t be surprising for a writer to have their robot, android or machine capable of speaking perfectly like a human.
The trick is, they may speak like a human but that doesn’t mean that their facial expressions and the way they say things sound human. For example: maybe a human may not be able to tell the difference if a robot is joking or actually saying something disconcerting. That’s where the lack of emotions comes into play and it will help to make it clear that they’re not human.
“Don’t worry, Shepard. I only forget to recycle the Normandy’s oxygen when I’ve discovered something truly interesting…that is a joke.” EDI, Mass Effect 3
OR
“I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees…that is a joke.” EDI, Mass Effect 3
However, there are androids that are purposely program to speak in a inhuman way because it helps humans to avoid empathizing with them. It is a way to make sure that there is a boundary that keeps machines from becoming too human. Humans have a tendency to fear what they don’t understand. They would fear in losing control of them, fear that their machines would find them obsolete and decide to enslave or destroy humans. That is why it wouldn’t be surprising if machines are program to speak in such a way. It also gives writers the excuse to have their machine characters speak like this:
“Unauthorized entry. Intruder alert, intruder alert.
“Malfunction…does not compute.”
“Insufficient data.”
“Affirmative.”
“Negative.”
“File not found.”
“My responses are limited.”
“Program terminated.”
”My programming may be inadequate to the task.”
“Analysis shows a 87.3% chance of survival.”
“This platform is not available for experimentation.”
“I’m not authorized to answer your questions.”
“Desire is irrelevant. I am a machine.”
Of course, I suggest that writers don’t go overboard with such phrases. Another thing that writers should keep in mind is what kind of machine is your character? Are they an android, cyborg, robot or some other type of artificially intelligent machine? What are their limitations? What are they program with?
If you’re having trouble figuring that out then it helps to think about today’s technology. For example: e-readers are mobile electronic devices that are designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital e-books. However, that’s the basic use for all e-readers; when you look more into them you’ll realize that there are some that are specialized and do more that just that. Some e-readers are capable of being read in the bright sun without glare, some have the ability to show colors, or are able to be read in the dark, others can play music as you read, or they can let you download movies on them to watch and so on.
Think of your mechanical characters like that. What was the reason—their purpose for their creation? Are they a prototype? If they are, how limited are they in their function? If not, how many of their types exist in your fictional world? Are they a basic type or a specialize one? What is their basic programming? What would make them specialize? How much do they cost? How and where do they get their energy from? What is their “life” expectancy? Are they an old model? What would make them out-dated? Would there be a way to update them? How are they program to handle humans? Are they capable of evolving or is there a fail-safe that prevents that? What happens when they are damage or malfunctioning? Do they shut down? Do they go into a safe mode and try to repair themselves? Or do they need to be bought into a particular place to get fixed?
Once you know all that, you’ll have a better understanding of your character. You’ll know how they’ll handle humans and how they’ll speak. Are they purposely program to talk like a stereotypical robot or sound like a human? And most importantly, why? Just be sure that you hint to your readers about why they do the things they do and talk the way they do. That would the readers understand them as well and know that it’s just how they were created to be.
Lastly, don’t forget that they aren’t human. Some writers tend to forget or accidentally slip human emotions and behavior into the character, especially when the writer establish that they aren’t capable of it. With mechanical characters it’s sometimes tricky trying to stay consist with them. Another thing, don’t forget about how they interact with other machines. For example: If a machine is communicating with another machine they wouldn’t be vocal about it. In other words they wouldn’t be talking out loud like humans would be. Why? Because machines are capable of communicating wireless and it would be practical and efficient for them to do so. They wouldn’t see it logical to talk out loud when they can do so wireless which would take them only a second to do.
If you’re still having trouble writing dialogue for your character, look it up. There are plenty of books, tv shows, films, and video games that feature mechanical characters. Pay attention to their dialogue and figure out how your character would speak. Just keep in mind which way would suit them because of their programming and the purpose they were created for.
 DamnBlackHeart · Tue Mar 12, 2013 @ 08:35pm · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
