Life & Mortality Quote by Colleen McCullough

McCullough’s jab lands because it treats “samey” dialogue as a tell, the way a poker player’s twitch gives up the hand. The phrase “dead give away” is blunt, almost accusatory: this isn’t a minor craft quibble, it’s evidence at the crime scene. She’s not scolding beginners for lacking polish; she’s naming the hidden narcissism that can sneak into early writing, where every character becomes a ventriloquist dummy for the author’s one preferred cadence, worldview, and wit.

The intent is practical and a little ruthless: if you can’t differentiate voices, you haven’t fully imagined people. Subtext: character is not backstory trivia or a costume of quirks; it’s how someone processes reality in real time. Voice is where class, education, regionality, age, gender expectations, and private shame all leak out. When everyone speaks alike, the story’s social world collapses into a single speaker with multiple name tags.

Context matters: McCullough came up in a tradition of large-cast, socially textured novels, where dialogue has to do heavy lifting as characterization, pacing, and power dynamics. Her line is also a warning about modern workshop habits that reward “good writing” as a uniform sheen. Great fiction doesn’t just sound competent; it sounds contested. Distinct voices create friction, misunderstanding, and surprise - the engine of scenes. Uniform voices create agreement, even when characters argue, because the author is still the only one talking.