Personality - Voice - Writing

So, what makes a character stand out?

We were talking about this at my critique group on Saturday. Sometimes characters seem to blend together. Maybe it's because they are all too similar. In real life, no two people are the same - not even twins.

So how do we create characters that stand out from one another?

We shouldn't even have to use tags to know who's talking. No more, "Ellen said", "Jim answered" or "Josh screamed". We should know who screamed just by the way he did it.

Maybe easier said than done. But I was thinking about this when I was sewing new cushions for my benches outside.

Maybe most people don't even have benches outside and those that do, might be happy just to have the benches - but not me. I want soft, cushy pillows to sit on.

What does that say about me? Maybe I'm a WHIMP or spoiled, it might even mean I have problems with my butt - who knows. But it has to say something. And we should make sure we create characters that are saying something about themselves by what they do, wear, or even the way they position their bodies during a conversation.

Everyone has their own way of doing activities, saying simple phrases or even wearing their clothes.

Here's one little Youtube video I've shown before but I think it's helpful. My family and I tried to show what voice means, simply by the way we say things. See if you can guess what kind of personality each person has just by the way we say this one famous sentence.

Voice for a Writer

Voice can be a difficult concept to explain. Essentially it is when people speak in a unique and distinctive way.

Everyone has their own mannerisms, attitudes, and body language. These are the attributes that make human beings different from one another.

In the Charlie Brown comic Peanuts, Linus always carried around his blanket, sucked his thumb and had his own unique ways of expressing himself. Some people call these things "tags" and they are an extension of voice.

Nathan Bransford said it well: "The other thing I'm noticing about dialogue is that it is most effective when it is very clear it is the voice of a very particular character or characters saying the words, rather than words that could be said by anyone. Everyone has their own way of speaking in real life, but with dialogue on the page it seems even more important to counter expectations, to avoid cliches, and to make it sound original." You can read his entire post here.

Even if characters are using the exact same words, no two people would ever say anything in precisely the same way.

Watch this short clip to see exactly what I mean.



I hope this helps explain voice. If you have any comments or suggestions to add, please click on the comments section and add your thoughts about voice.