When writing your story, you’ll want each of the major characters to be distinct. One of achieving that, especially in genre fiction, is to give a couple of the characters catch-phrases.

A catch-phrase is a short and memorable word or a phrase that a character repeats at apt times. Examples include Mr. Spock’s “Fascinating”, Dr. McCoy’s “I’m a doctor, not a …”, and Sherlock Holmes’ “Elementary, Dear Watson.”

A good catch phrase helps establish the character’s personality. “Fascinating” shows that Mr. Spock is innately curious, “I’m a doctor, not a …” establishes Dr. McCoy as a curmudgeon, and “Elementary, Dear Watson” indicates Sherlock Holmes is a genius.

Don’t overuse a catch-phrase in a story. A catch-phrase is just one of many techniques used to build a character. In addition, overuse leads to the catch-phrase becoming campy, diminishing its effectiveness.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.