Help! Your Character’s voice

[Kitty]

Does anyone have any tips for developing your characters so that they all have distinct voices, say for example you are writing a multiple 1st person POV? Thanks

 

[Carol Rose]

All that in-depth pre-writing character development we talked about recently in another thread. Seriously. No matter which POV you're writing in, your characters shouldn't speak, think, act, react, or reason in exactly the same way, just as people in real life are each unique in those aspects.

 

[Marc Joan]

David Mitchell is very good at multiple 1P POV -- have a read of Cloud Atlas, or Bone Clocks. I suspect part of the battle is making sure your characters are sufficiently distinct in the first place, and maybe also give them particular mannerisms of vocabulary, phrasing or attitude that serve as markers.

 

[Kitty]

Attitude and mannerisms. Like that. That would work.

 

[Kitty]

@Carol Rose I think I missed that other thread you mention! Found it now!

 

[Barbara]

Not sure if this helps, but I tend to treat this kind of thing the same way I treat dialogue: I 'establish' that person and their voice in my own head; kinda taking on different personas when I write, a bit like playing several roles in a play. Also, I try to find strong characterisitcs which conflict each other.

 

[Robert M Derry]

It's probably better to go back to character and decide who each of your characters are and that should help you give each of them a distinctive voice.

Once you've got a grip on each character, they'll develop a life of their own that will become independent from your own authorial voice. You'll know when you're there when you find that you as the writer want to say one thing and you can feel your character staring back at you from the page, saying 'Excuse me, but I wouldn't say that' or perhaps 'Oi you dozy old mug, I don't yabber on like that, what you take me for? A posh git!' Or something along those lines.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I agree with what @Robert M Derry says. A writer has to stay true to their own voice, but also listen to what their characters are saying to them. Such awareness starts to feel like you're channelling spirits.

As screenwriter Graycie Harmon said: "Being an author is like being in charge of your own personal insane asylum."

 

[Susan]

I’d say get to know your characters thoroughly before you start writing and keep listening to them while you write.