Characters and "voices"

[Carey]

How exactly do writers get a characters voice right. It's a problem I've always struggled with, although I'm improving now.

Discuss.

[Aimee Nicole]

Well, I always have an actor attached to the character, even when I'm writing prose. Doing that helps me find that character, and it always helps me keep that character in-character. If I can picture the actor/actress saying something or doing something, I know I've got it, for the most part, correct. If it's iffy, or I can't, then usually it's wrong.

[maddiefack]

I just write. If I second guess myself or if it doesn't automatically just fall in place like word-vomit I need to take a break and come back to it. With Outcasts/AoH many of the characters I don't let the comics get to me. I just have a vision of how I want them to be and that's how they are.

[MJ]

One of the most important things I feel is needed to get your characters 'voice' is to have a good understanding of the character. When I develop my characters I also develop back stories for them, know about their families, know about their odd little quirks, and most important of all I lay out their personality and break it down into basic characteristics which help to structure the way in which my characters talk.

For example:

Cassie Brewer (from EoV) is, at her most basic personality, the bubbly, friendly, and funny best friend. I keep these characteristics in mind when I'm writing her lines and I also picture how I believe she would talk (in this case, rather fast paced and very matter-of-fact, professional and jokes aside when needs be). Then I tend to focus on the characters own personal quirks, in Cassie's case it's a penchant for nicknames, to make their voices truly their own.

Another couple of examples (again from EoV) that I can give you are my characters Adam and Lloyd. Adam's speech often contains a lot of 'uh' and 'um''s to show his nervous nature, especially around authority figures and he'll use slang associated with younger generations. Then you can contrast that to Lloyd who talks in rather short sentences and always gets straight to the point. Lloyd also rarely voices affection or thanks towards other people, even though he may feel it, because he's the gruff, hardened cop character who likes to come across as a bit intimidating.

But yeah, I hope that helped to explain how I, personally, develop my character voices and isn't just a load of non-sensical rambling