So I made myself a character for my story a while ago who is mute and I decided at the time that no one knew why he was mute. he just is. but I'm starting to regret this.
The kid is 9 years old and his parents are a bit neglectful so I guess it's possible for him to have a physical problem with his vocal cords and they just don't care enough.
he goes to speech therapy but at what point do they give up? he physically cannot make any sound with his voice.
Also, he had superpowers that are genetic so maybe through some weird twist, his powers caused him to lose his voice?
So what I really want to know is what do you people think? why is he mute? and should i "fix" it?
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Sorry this probably doesn't sound very coherent I've never posted here before but I can answer questions if you want more info
Oh. So. Um. Give me a bit and I could probably come up with a decent background. One thing that will help me is what's the name of the kid?
I already have quite a bit of info for him but I’d love to see what you can do. His name is Danny.
So there are a few ideas. I'm not going to actually make a full detailed background, but perhaps an outline of something that could become one.
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Birth deformity: Danny had a fighting chance to speak, but [insert something that the mother did/do that would cause a birth defect] As a baby, Danny didn't make a peep. Nor did he make a peep when he accidentally burned himself on the stove. (Um ok this is just for context.) Perhaps he got teased a lot when he was in school.
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Genetics: Danny was doomed from the start. It was in his genes. There was absolutely nothing anyone or anything could do about it.
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Power Damage: The more Danny uses his power, the more and more damaged his vocal cords and voice box become. Eventually, when they are so damaged they are no longer usable anymore, he is free to use his power however, whenever. However this comes at a cost. He is no longer able to speak.
awesome! i really like those ideas. thanks
If you need help we can work together, I have 2 mute characters, Maia (who had her voice magicked away) and Lavinia (who had her tongue mutilated).
I have two characters who are selective mutes for different reasons if you want to know about that stuff
serious accident were they had to do surgery but the vocal cords couldn't be fixed? He drank something really harmfull as a child in an unattentive moment of his parents? Born with very weak vocal cords?
About the "power damage" thing: what sort of powers does he have?
If he's got some kind of psychic/brain-related powers, it might be possible that (either by the rules of this universe or just because Danny lost the genetic lottery somehow) the presence of those powers just makes speaking or learning to speak extremely difficult for him. This doesn't necessarily mean he would be developmentally delayed - there are several forms of aphasia (difficulty processing or producing speech) that occur as a result of damage/congenital defects to the area of of the brain that deal with speech, and some autistic people are nonverbal but can learn to communicate through other modes like sign language or writing.
This could work if his powers are the psychic kind. In this case he might be able to produce noise, or even some words, but not in a comprehensible way. Or maybe he technically can speak but it's difficult or even painful for him to do so - which might be a source of tension between him and his parents, if they're trying to get him to talk and he can't articulate to them why he doesn't.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/aphasia/symptoms-causes/syc-20369518
In any case, you could have him learning sign language or writing on flashcards to communicate, or you could have his parents get him some sort of text-to-speech device.
About the "power damage" thing: what sort of powers does he have?
If he's got some kind of psychic/brain-related powers, it might be possible that (either by the rules of this universe or just because Danny lost the genetic lottery somehow) the presence of those powers just makes speaking or learning to speak extremely difficult for him. This doesn't necessarily mean he would be developmentally delayed - there are several forms of aphasia (difficulty processing or producing speech) that occur as a result of damage/congenital defects to the area of of the brain that deal with speech, and some autistic people are nonverbal but can learn to communicate through other modes like sign language or writing.
This could work if his powers are the psychic kind. In this case he might be able to produce noise, or even some words, but not in a comprehensible way. Or maybe he technically can speak but it's difficult or even painful for him to do so - which might be a source of tension between him and his parents, if they're trying to get him to talk and he can't articulate to them why he doesn't.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/aphasia/symptoms-causes/syc-20369518
In any case, you could have him learning sign language or writing on flashcards to communicate, or you could have his parents get him some sort of text-to-speech device.
His powers don't really have anything to do with that. it's teleportation. he does write in a notebook and use sign language.
at this point, i might just never address it since it might not really come up in a way we can explain it in the story.
Thanks for your answer tho :)
I know that @Euric_Knight already mentioned being selectively mute, and unless it's super duper important that your character cannot speak at all then it might be worth looking into. To me, that seems more believable than just saying that his parents never noticed (because I feel like you probably would notice that, even if they are neglectful). If he's selectively mute, then maybe he speaks to his parents but not to anyone else.
