Hello I'm about nine chapters into my first book but have come across a small problem. I have a character who only talks to his immediate family and an old man who helped raise him. He is cold towards others and barley speaks. I'm having trouble however describing how his voice is soft but not quiet. (if that makes sense) I can hear his voice in my head but I'm having real difficulty putting it into words. Has anyone got any tips? Thank you
Soft in the sense that he is emotional, sensitive and/or timid, but does not actually have a quiet voice? I think the best way to do it is to make that clear by what he says (dialogue-wise) and body language. That's stronger writing and characterization than trying to create a description for the way his voice sounds. Or, if it phonetically sounds soft - not quiet, but he has a smoother voice that's maybe not as stereotypically "masculine"? - just write one sentence about it and let it be. But again, if you characterize him well enough, readers should get a pretty good idea of what he'd sound like.
Soft... but not quiet? You need to clarify that. Are you using "soft" to describe the volume? The tone? The emotion? The smoothness? The words he says? Also, define "quiet." By quiet do you mean a whisper? A voice that makes people say, "Sorry, I didn't catch that?" Or do you simply mean not loud? Once you can find the answers to these questions, it should help people understand what you mean.
