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Writing Excuses 13.13: Character Voice
Apr. 4th, 2018 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarkerWriting Excuses 13.13: Character Voice
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2018/04/01/13-13-character-voice/
Key points: Voice, mechanical, aesthetic, and personal. How much character voice expresses itself depends on the project. Often in 1st and 3rd person, the narrative is partial voice, while the dialogue is full voice. Pay attention to how they curse or praise. Backstory or background is important to find out what the character might do that is interesting, unique, fun, specific, a distinctive voice. Vocabulary and word choice. Some narrators have a distinctive voice, too. Set your rules for that! Separate what the narrator tells you because you need to know it, and what the narrator hides to let the story unfold. For a spunky sarcastic teen narrator in YA, make it particular, personalized. Voice can make description and infodumps tolerable, even enjoyable. Beware the brilliant asshole, who has failed the area of intention, where the author's needs and the character's needs intersect. Also, pay attention to emphasis, bringing up the voice when you want the reader to pay attention to how the character is feeling or an important plot point.
( Singing a song ... )
[Brandon] Let's go ahead and call it there. Mary, you have our homework.
[Mary] Yes. What I want you to do is take a section of text that you have already written. Okay? So this is a default. Preferably something that you wrote in more-or-less neutral voice. I want you to rewrite that scene. I want you to rewrite it with three different characters. One of them is 80 years old. One of them is 12. And one of them is from a foreign country.
[Brandon] All right. This has been Writing Excuses, you're out of excuses, now go write.
From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2018/04/01/13-13-character-voice/
Key points: Voice, mechanical, aesthetic, and personal. How much character voice expresses itself depends on the project. Often in 1st and 3rd person, the narrative is partial voice, while the dialogue is full voice. Pay attention to how they curse or praise. Backstory or background is important to find out what the character might do that is interesting, unique, fun, specific, a distinctive voice. Vocabulary and word choice. Some narrators have a distinctive voice, too. Set your rules for that! Separate what the narrator tells you because you need to know it, and what the narrator hides to let the story unfold. For a spunky sarcastic teen narrator in YA, make it particular, personalized. Voice can make description and infodumps tolerable, even enjoyable. Beware the brilliant asshole, who has failed the area of intention, where the author's needs and the character's needs intersect. Also, pay attention to emphasis, bringing up the voice when you want the reader to pay attention to how the character is feeling or an important plot point.
( Singing a song ... )
[Brandon] Let's go ahead and call it there. Mary, you have our homework.
[Mary] Yes. What I want you to do is take a section of text that you have already written. Okay? So this is a default. Preferably something that you wrote in more-or-less neutral voice. I want you to rewrite that scene. I want you to rewrite it with three different characters. One of them is 80 years old. One of them is 12. And one of them is from a foreign country.
[Brandon] All right. This has been Writing Excuses, you're out of excuses, now go write.
