Establishing a strong narrative voice is incredibly important, particularly when writing from a specific character's perspective. It's even more important if you're writing from multiple points of view.
The narrative voice does not include spoken dialogue or monologues. It involves the inner voice of the narrator and/or character. Depending on the perspective you're writing in, some of the following questions will be more relevant than others, but these are questions I find helpful when developing an identifiable narrative voice.
✧ How would a character describe themselves to someone else? How would they describe themselves internally?
✧ How is your character feeling? What might they focus on setting-wise? What might they ignore or overlook?
✧ Does your narrator have an accent? Where are they from? How old are they? Are there any figures of speech or idioms they would use as a short cut?
✧ Do they use colloquialisms naturally or for those around them?
✧ Do they have a unique cadence?
✧ Does your character code-switch? Have they picked any expressions up off of people around them?
✧ How intelligent are they? How educated are they?
✧ How do they approach conflict? Analytical/emotional/logical/avoidance?
✧ Do they have any specific mindsets? Are there any pitfalls or thought patterns they consistently get stuck in?
✧ Are they very all-or-nothing? Do they believe they're in control or fate is? Are they a pessimist or an optimist? Are they ironic?
✧ How might they label something before consideration?
✧ Are they prone to minimising/magnifying situations? Do they have any false beliefs and do they know that they're false beliefs?
✧ What do they expect of themselves? What do they wish for themselves? What is the most important thing to them?
✧ What do they blame?
✧ Do they effectively communicate their feelings? Do they even know their feelings?
✧ How do they feel logically? How do they feel emotionally? How do these differ and which does your character value?
✧ What do they tell themselves? Is it accurate?
✧ What outcome do they want? What do they fear will happen?
✧ What is the reader privy to? What does the reader know that the other characters don't? What do the characters know that the reader doesn't?
✧ What's the pace of your narrator's thoughts? Are they anxious? Obsessive? Desperate? Under pressure?
✧ Is the narrator bored or enthusiastic?
✧ What do they focus on? What do they cling to?
✧ Is the pacing of the narration intended to subvert the reader's expectations? Are the reader and narrator feeling the same way based on their knowledge/feelings?
✧ Do they practice their words before they say them? Or does dialogue spill out without any prior consideration?
✧ Are they physically comfortable? Hot/cold/itchy/sore?
✧ Is there anything distracting or intrusive? Smells, sounds, tastes, etc.?
✧ How easily do they get distracted? What do they focus on naturally?
✧ How do their emotions, thoughts, and opinions change through the scene? Why?
✧ Are they getting interrupted? Are they used to how they're being treated? Do they spend a lot of time with their thoughts?
✧ How conscious are they of themselves and their movements/face?
✧ Is there something not being said? How does your character feel about it?
✧ Do they have a habit they've stopped partaking in? Do they swear internally, but not externally? How short of a fuse do they have?
✧ Do they have repetitive thoughts? Are they confident? Are they forgetful?
✧ How do they approach new things? Are they willing to fail? Are they naturally gifted? Are they used to getting what they want? Are they hiding discomfort?
✧ How do they interact with things they don't like about themselves? What do they do when they have a thought they aren't comfortable with?
✧ Do they hate in others what they hate in themselves? What might they project onto other characters? What do they envy? What are they lacking?
✧ How do they cut someone off?
✧ Are they direct? Do they use complex language? Are they an expert in the subject?
✧ How do they see themselves in the context of the situation? How do they see themselves in the context of the other characters?
✧ Favourite words and/or phrases?
✧ Do they think very much at all? Are their thoughts more active or passive?
✧ How much energy do they have? Are they tired? Are they waking up?
✧ Are they sober? Are they lucid? Do they believe things are real that aren't? Does the reader know?
I wrote this because I used to struggle a lot with narrative voice, particularly when I wanted them to stand out from other characters. Hopefully this is helpful to people other than me :)
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