Finding Your Voice Part One

As a writer, you'll need to develop a few different "voices" in your writing. The first one you'll probably stumble upon is character voice--the one we're discussing today--and the second is your own unique writer's voice--we'll discuss that in part two.

So, what's this "character voice" you speak of and how do I pull it off?

Character voice is a character's tone, attitude, and word choice. This voice is determined by their background, their belief system, and their views of the world. Sounds simple, huh, lovelies?

Well, not quite. It's not the hardest part of writing by a long shot, but it's definitely not easy. Each and every character of importance should have his or her own distinctive voice. If they don't, the characters can bleed into one another and are easily forgotten once the book is over. If your characters (especially your MC) don't have strong voices, they probably won't leave a lasting impression on the reader.

That's no good, eh? I mean, you want your readers to remember your characters once the story is over, don't you? Of course you do. But, how do you develop your characters' voices?

For starters, know your character. Yeah, I know--I preach this rule religiously, but it's super important. Knowing your character, their history, beliefs, and views can have a huge effect on your character voice. You should know them almost as well as you know yourself. If you don't, it's highly doubtful much of a voice will emerge in your story. You characters will fall short, sound the same, and bore your readers.

Did your MC come from a happy family or a broken home? Did they have many friends growing up? How are they are expressing themselves? How do they view the world as a whole?

Answering questions like these can improve your characters' voices. For more tips on characters, check out part one and part two of Building 3-Dimensional Characters.

Humor is also a great tool. Adding on a bit of humor (dark humor if we're talking villains) can really help your character's voice. Everyone has a different sense of humor--my brother loves reference jokes, I enjoy sarcasm and irony, and with Travis, the more random a joke is, the better. This is another good thing to look at while building your characters--what do they find amusing? What makes them laugh until their sides hurt?

Think about the way real people talk. Your characters are supposed to be real people, so they need to talk and think like real people. Now, I'm not telling you to eavesdrop (yes I am), but if you have to, take a trip to the park or the mall or wherever people hang out in your town and listen in on a few conversations. Take notes if you have to.

Now, this doesn't apply strictly to dialogue. You've got to inject a little of that voice into your narrative as well. This can be a little more tricky. I believe, personally, the best place to try this out is in a description. Think about the way your character would express themselves and use those words to describe whatever you're describing (setting, another character, whatever...).

Keep it in character. Let's say your character is hanging out with their prude aunt, just chit-chatting, and then your MC brings up a pretty steamy subject. What's that prude aunt going to do? Well, there are plenty of ways you could take it, but there's one path that just won't work. The path where the aunt actually takes an interest in the topic. Based on what we know of her character (prude), she'd probably find a way to quickly dismiss it or, possibly, get a little upset with her niece from bringing it up in the first place. Contrived character actions kills the voice you could have been cultivating and ticks readers off.

Keep a diary for your character(s). Nooo, this isn't just my love of pretending taking over, lovelies. This is serious business. If you really want to get into character, a good way to do this is writing diary entries by your characters. In a diary, you share your uncensored thoughts and feelings--your voice bleeds through whether you're trying or not. So, if you know your character (told you it was important), you should be able to do this with little to no trouble. In fact, I might do a few blogs later on from my characters just to give you an example or two (and because it's a great excuse for some pretending. lol).

Choose your words carefully. Think about how your character would describe something--what words would they use? Would they say dinner was "delicious" or would they call it "yummy?" Do they think of sunsets as "a dazzling display of natural beauty" or "just another day coming to an end?" These things really define a character's voice. If every character uses the same words and describes things the same way, they'll all seem like the same person...and that's boring. You definitely don't want that.

Speak from experience. And not your experiences--I'm talking about your character's experiences. Does your character have a tragic past? Did they grow up with strict moral values? Or were they allowed to run free and do as they pleased? Was your character ever in a violent accident? Or have they never had so much as a scraped knee? Those things will help you shape your character's voice. For instance, if your character grew up under repressed parents, they might have a naive/innocent view of the world. On the flip, if they grew up with no moral guidance, they might find the line between right and wrong to be a little blurry.

Let that voice change. The voice you establish in the beginning of your story should be a bit different from the voice that ends the novel. Once your character starts learning and growing, their views will change and, therefore, their voice goes through a mild transformation. Now, I'm not saying you need a whole new voice by the end--just slightly tweaked.

For example, in LIGHTS OUT, Skye's voice in the beginning is a little angry, but by the end, she's evened out a bit.

In OPHELIA, the voice in the beginning is innocent--that of a young child--but, eventually, Ophelia's world turns itself upside down and horrible things happen to her, stripping away that innocence. By the end, her voice will be a little more pessimistic and jaded.

The change in voice doesn't always have to be a "happy" one. It should reflect on what your character has been through and where they're at by the ending.

All right, everyone, that's it for part one. Tune in next time when I talk about your writer's voice.

Hope this helps! If you've got a question or want to suggest a topic, just leave a comment and I'll get right on it. Happy writing, lovelies!