1. No-Name Slob

    No-Name Slob Member Supporter Contributor

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    Voices

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by No-Name Slob, Nov 9, 2017.

    So this is the question I was originally going to ask, but I had forgotten so I asked the one about writer’s block, instead.

    I have so many different voices depending on my audience. I have the “bubbly” sales/work voice, the “mom” voice, the “activist” voice, etc.

    I find it tough to suss through all these different personas to find the one that is truly mine.

    When, where, and how did you find your definitive voice?

    I currently feel a bit schizophrenic.
     
  2. Shadowfax

    Shadowfax Contributor Contributor

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    I used to work with a guy who had a thick Black-country accent...and that's widely considered to be one of the worst in the UK...but, once on the phone, he had a sugary-plummy accent...weird; made him sound gay!

    As for different voices...my wife is REALLY strange with strangers...her personality just flips. Normally, she's a very quiet, private sort of person; when she meets a stranger she becomes super-extrovert. Best example; she'd just had a cardiac arrest. CPR & three ambulances & defibrillator later and she's in A&E (ER for the US of you) with the team panicking around, pumping her full of drugs to stabilize her potassium and sodium levels. My wife, despite feeling nauseous, is chatting to the trainee nurse about how her studies are going, how far through she is, and how our daughter is also training to be a nurse. After over a week in ITU, an ablation and a ICD she gets discharged and has to be LEFT ALONE for a couple of days because she's absolutely shattered from all that human interaction.

    Don't sweat your "one true voice".

    I'd have thought that, for a writer, the different voices in your head would help. All you've got to do is decide whether your character is "bubbly", or "motherly", or...and slip into that personality and you've got them nailed.
     
  3. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I think the only way to find your voice as a writer is through reading quite a bit. Reading several works by any given writer should leave you with a sense of their writer voice. You will start to recognize the familiarity of that author's storytelling. You will start to see just how it's different than others. Do this with a bunch of authors. Until you can recognize what a writing voice is and have exposed yourself to many of them, I think you will continue struggle to find your own.
     
  4. surrealscenes

    surrealscenes Senior Member

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    By writing, simple as that.
    You developed other voices by being passionate about whatever it was; the same will happen with fiction.
     
  5. GB reader

    GB reader Contributor Contributor

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    I have to second @surrealscenes on this. You are naming three voices you have, but if you think about it you just don't have these voices. You actually developed these by acting in those roles. Probably it took you several years to develop the voices. It's the same with writing. But be careful about the voices you have. You will have great usage of them in dialogue.
     
  6. John Calligan

    John Calligan Contributor Contributor

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    I'll take a stab at navel gazing.

    I don't think people have inauthentic voice in their lives. I had a take-charge personality when I was a paramedic and when I was teaching martial arts. When I ran D&D games, I think I had a take-charge personality. Really, I don't think I'm a take-charge person. I don't really want to lead, so sometimes when I'm doing that stuff, I feel fake.

    But it's not fake. I can only be who I am. Whatever I'm thinking and doing is who and what I am. There are a lot of times when I haven't liked myself. Sometimes I was rude, taking charge as a medic. Pushy and condescending as a game master. Mean as a martial arts teacher. There were times when I was sniveling or clingy in relationships. I didn't always like my voice or myself, but I don't want to say that I wasn't me. That's who I was.

    But what made those things feel wrong was that I didn't like what was motivating me, or didn't know what was motivating me, but thought it was wrong. When I was mean as a martial arts teacher, it was because I thought I knew what was better for someone than they did. When I was rude as a paramedic, it was because I felt like my honor was being questioned in tense situations, and I wanted to force people to move quickly, the way I wanted them to. When I was clingy in a relationship, it's because I didn't like who I was without that person.

    I feel like I am authentically me when I can be proud of and happy with my motivation and that I'm living my life with purpose. Then, whatever my voice is, feels legit. But it's hard to know what is really motivating you unless you really look deeply into yourself and your life, and that's hard.

    But isn't that what writing is about? Does finding your voice writing have anything to do with being true to yourself?
     
  7. Thundair

    Thundair Contributor Contributor

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    I'm worried now my writing is all over the place, different genres and time periods.
    Maybe it's like my life no direction prone. Is that no voice at all?
     
  8. GB reader

    GB reader Contributor Contributor

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    I don't think you should think of your voice as beeing you.
    Being true to yourself is a good thing and something you should try to be.
    Being true to yourself is brave and honorable when writing your memoars.
    But the voice I am trying to find is how do I tell a story?
    It's about how do I tell a story, not who am I.
    There are of course correlations.
     
  9. Amber13

    Amber13 Member

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    I think finding your voice just comes from writing, and then reflecting on the writing. I can read stuff I wrote very early on, and I can tell I'm just mocking the voice of whoever I was really into at the time. As I've written more, and read more, I've figured out what I as a reader really respond to, and that's similar to what my own writing voice sounds like. I've also gotten better at infusing my story with my personality more, when it's appropriate. That was the hardest part for me; it wasn't until I found the right character and story that I didn't feel like I was forcing something.
     
  10. Thundair

    Thundair Contributor Contributor

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    The MC in my novel starts out as a young naive farm girl and ends up as a strong sophisticated woman.
    The difficulty was to make her voice a transition through her trials and tribulations and not have her wake up one day talking like Eleanor Roosevelt.
     
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  11. John Calligan

    John Calligan Contributor Contributor

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    Sounds cool.
     
  12. Poetical Gore

    Poetical Gore Member

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    I had one of those old tape recorders. I recorded myself talking. I played it back but the voice was too high pitched so I said that is not my voice. Then I burned the tape.
     
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  13. sprirj

    sprirj Senior Member

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    Bit sweeping isn't it? I think all regional accents are seen in a negative light, be it scouse, cockney or Welsh. If you speak with an accent, you are generally viewed as common or poorly educated. I can guarantee that the millions who live in the midlands area consider the Manchester accent far worse. I think you are presenting your own views as the thoughts of the people. And this comment has little to do with the OP. :s
     
  14. The Dapper Hooligan

    The Dapper Hooligan (V) ( ;,,;) (v) Contributor

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    I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that unless you're being completely artificial using these voices that they are all truly yours. I don't think that any of us have one definitive voice because we're all complex personalities that we represent in many different ways depending on how we show ourselves to others. Saying we have one definitive is like saying diamonds have one definitive facet or sunsets should only be viewed from one definitive angle. They all beautiful.
     
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