Voice is What They Say, Not How they Say It
Voice is sometimes a difficult thing to nail down, and yet it’s the part of character that’s the most fun! Doing it well allows you to show off all that hard work you put into creating character, and really carries a lot of their memorability. But something I see confused quite a bit is trying to write unique ways of how characters say things, rather than knowing what they say.
There’s just not enough accents or unique descriptive adjectives for voice that can carry all this work—and it also doesn’t really tell us much about character except for maybe where they’re from, which is a detail we can share in plenty of other ways throughout the story.
What’s most important to convey through voice is background and attitude. Starting with background, we're talking all those details you came up with around your character’s past. Family, class, education, friends—all those things influence what your character may say.
For example, a character who was raised in a very proper household may use the word “pardon” rather than “excuse me". A character who was raised outside of societal rules may not excuse themselves at all, and could come off as rude.
A long-term group of friends would share similar slang, a character may talk different to their family members than they do to their friends, or their coworkers. Consider how much/if they swear, and around who, and who they may or may not censor themselves around.
All of this goes back to how they were raised, with what etiquette, and around who. All of this reveals past in a way without us ever having to tell readers it.
The second thing voice can convey is attitude. This is how personality impacts voice of character. It’s how they react to their situation, and how that betrays what they’re thinking. I’ll say it a million times, but characters never say what they mean, which is what makes this so much fun. What things they hide through their voice is very telling of who they are as people.
Some examples for attitude would include: a character who is super genuine and affectionate with their friends, versus one who insults their friends out of love. Both cases the characters are displaying love for their friends, but convey far different personalities behind the action. Or, a character who snaps and insults when they’re angry, versus a character who gets passive aggressive and stews silently.
Characters who are open and friendly meeting new people, versus shy, versus rude, versus untrusting. All of these things can be conveyed through what they say, not how, all of these things tell us so much more about our characters and who they are as people. You see why voice is so much fun?
I take a few notes about voice when writing backstory, but for the most part I find it in my first draft through just playing around and keeping in mind what my characters are thinking, and what they aren’t saying. I find it comes very naturally once I’ve found it, but you can also keep a few notes on lines you’ve written you think really represents your character’s voice.
Oh, and a good way to learn how people speak differently is to listen! Eavesdrop on conversations, pay attention to your own speech patterns, go to a party (after Covid) and take a note on every person you talk to. Good luck!
