forum How do you discover you characters' voices?

Started February 12, 2022 by Tati

tune

I'm struggling to differentiate my characters' voices in writing, both in narration and dialogue. I've been trying to google some help, but it hasn't helped much.

I use music and pick the voice of the artist I think best fits the particular character. You could pretty much use anything like that (movies/tv shows, even).

Are you talking about voice in writing (like how the character sounds with their pov)? or voice when speaking?

Sort of both. Their manner of speech and narration.

For their speaking voice I like to look at voice files in games/and movies I like and match characters with age, natural tone, and personality. Like for my OC Mukoro, he was design to have a soft, mono-tone voice so original assign the voice of Maki Harukara from Danganropa V3. But Maki's tone and personality have a bit more angst, she has more of a cold hearted/intimidating personality when I'm looking for something more bored. So I switched to Chiaki Namani from Danganropa 2, she fits more age, tone and personality. I say make characters that match yours, like making a kin list for your character.

as for narration what i do is really lean in on vocab, some characters use different vocab than others. also know what their goals are and what they want and how they're feeling in the situation. if they're bored and don't wanna listen, have them tune out and go off on a tangent in their mind or something. are they more resigned in the situation, more focused on their thoughts or their surroundings? also, how do they perceive other characters? do they compliment characters they like and insult ones they don't? are they self conscious in front of characters with more power?

also think about how you want your character's tone to be. is their voice higher pitched or lower? somewhere in the middle? does it fluctuate when angered or excited? how quietly do they speak? does a softspoken person unexpectedly get loud out of nowhere and shock everyone? when they speak are they playful? do they make jokes? are they sarcastic? monotone? these are just some of the things that help me!!

hope i helped!

I'm struggling to differentiate my characters' voices in writing, both in narration and dialogue. I've been trying to google some help, but it hasn't helped much.

To find a character's voice, you need to consider:

• Tone
• Speech patterns/Accent
• Any verbal mannerisms they have

For tone

What does their voice sound like? Is it deep? Is it high? Are they soft spoken or do they have a more raspy voice?
This also depends on context! In a library, they might have a more gentle voice from whispering but in a battlefield there's a lot of yelling.
You should also take age into context, which I feel is very self explanatory lol

For speech patterns or accent

What words or vocabulary do they say often? Do they speak quickly or slowly? Do they use more formal words or do they use slang more? Accents can also help the reader get an idea of how they speak. Don't write it in Broken English to show what kind of accent they have… please don't. Don't be like the authors that have a German character and make them "Speak like zis". It's cringe. Instead, just say they have a German accent.

For verbal mannerisms

How does their voice change based on their mood or situation? Maybe they normally have a very loud voice with lots of swearing and slang, but when they're angry, suddenly they have a lower and more intimidating tone of voice. They enunciate all their words and they don't swear even once. Take that into consideration, especially for your main character(s).

It also helps to look up voice references of actors, or video game characters, for example, or maybe even singers!
You can use those to help describe your character's voice :)

Things i consider for my character's voices:

• Location: a county and or city that could influence their language or accent, and then the culture of said place for how blunt/polite they are (for example, asian countries tend to be very polite with emphasis on respect compared to very blunt english speaking countries that would even consider insults as endearment). Also consider slang and sayings that might come through, even things like greetings or farewells.
• Education or Wealth class: this determines how fancy a character speaks, someone raised on the streets wouldn't (probably) be using words like effervescent, and likewise nobility probably has limited slang and curses.
• Age: pretty explanatory, younger kids don't have the vocab adults do (or they have their own meme languages), and elderly probably use outdated slang
• Personality: Despite cultural norms, people can still be more polite or blunt, or downright rude if they want to be. Even 'posh' characters can curse and insult (though they might be more… creative than cussing someone out). Some other traits to consider are playful vs serious, headstrong vs calculating, outgoing vs diminutive.
• Emotions: people speak differently when feeling strong emotions. This is where I figure out if their speech changes with emotions, or doesn't. This is a good place to hide backstory, like someone breaking character when upset, or an accent coming through when angry.

For the literal sound of their voice, a lot of my character ideas start from songs so I tend to imagine them sounding like the singers, or in other cases I find actors in media that match what I think they sound like.