character's voice

[ChipC]

I understand what it means to develop character's unique 'voices' in a story, i'm just having a painful time trying to accomplish it. Can anyone recommend a good article, book, or perhaps some suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
chip

[prescribe22]

I'm sure there's a book and/or article out there offering a quick fix, and it's probably worth reading.

But don't overlook the long way: Read Scripts. :)

[LMPurves]

I understand what it means to develop character's unique 'voices' in a story, i'm just having a painful time trying to accomplish it. Can anyone recommend a good article, book, or perhaps some suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
chip

It is not possible to do it from the "outside looking in". (well, technically, it is, but your characters will most probably come across as flat, one-dimensional, and/or boring)

You have to BECOME your character(s).

[hscope]

LMPurves is right. If you can think like each character as you write, you will find each one 'sounds' different. I don't know how difficult it as it's something I just do as I go along.

One very basic method I use is the 'pass the salt' test. I imagine my characters sitting at a table and ask myself how each one would ask for salt.

Basic request: Could you pass the salt, please?

Character 1: Hey, butt-face, gimme the salt!

Character 2: If it's not too much trouble, I'd be grateful if you could pass the salt, please.

Character 3: Who's got the goddamned salt?

Character 4: Salt causes heart disease. I can't believe they put it on the table.

Then I would test how the other characters around the table would react to each situation.

Then I usually tear my remaining hair out and shoot myself.

[Angeloworx]

its like this thread or any other thread. Its having different opinions that answers the same question and in act three you stick to one and explain why.

[Centos]

It is not possible to do it from the "outside looking in". (well, technically, it is, but your characters will most probably come across as flat, one-dimensional, and/or boring)

You have to BECOME your character(s).

Yep. When I'm really "into" the writing of a story (or script) I find that I involuntarily act out my character's facial expressions, gestures and emotions as they go through their lines. I'm glad no one watches me write -- they would think I was a freaking loon.

[bioprofessor]

I understand what it means to develop character's unique 'voices' in a story, i'm just having a painful time trying to accomplish it. Can anyone recommend a good article, book, or perhaps some suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
chip

I agree with all of the responses. I also think that getting into that groove is ephemeral - ebbs and flows - throughout the process.

Here's how I realized I was "in" it for the first time: One day, while writing in the corner of a noisey cafe, things grew quiet. Then, some moments later, I looked up, palms sweaty, heart racing, worried that someone may have seen me grimacing. It felt like returning after an intense day dream. The room was noisey, always was.

Those are productive moments, but for me, they do drain the "batteries." That's when it's time to step outside, go for a walk.

[NikeeGoddess]

I understand what it means to develop character's unique 'voices' in a story, i'm just having a painful time trying to accomplish it. Can anyone recommend a good article, book, or perhaps some suggestionssuggestion: start off by exaggerating your characters. if you have a guy that's all about checking out the ladies then every time he talks it all boils down to that. maybe a miss lonely hearts only sees every man as a potential that got away or she has not chance of getting. this is all about character motivation and the reason why they're in your story. oftentimes people forget that their secondary characters need this just as much as their leads. so many times the best flicks are when the supporting characters are great characters... played by samuel jacksons of the world.

suggestion #2 - to keep your characters from being one notes: have them be different with different people. a 20 year old dood is different person when he's with his mother than when he's with his girlfriend, and different when he's with the fellas, different when he's with his ******* boss, and different when he's alone.

suggestion #3 - seinfeld: 4 great characters with their own unique voices

[cvolante]

Read Juno and look at how they talk-- Michael Cera "Wizard" and Ellen Paige (everything) vs Jennifer Garner's character.
Read Pulp Fiction and listen to Fabienne vs everyone else.
Read the Coen brothers, especially things like Big Lebowski and Julianne Moore's "the parlance of the times" vs the Dude's "this aggression will not stand, man" which he picked up from GW Bush vs John Goodman's constant swearing vs the narrator's western twang.

I should go print out a few scripts and get to a coffee shop, eh?.. :D

[Ernie Santamaria]

*The* best book on character “voices” (individuality) is Linda Seger’s “Creating Unforgettable Characters” which thoroughly covers major and minor characters and is written by one of the best in-print screenwriting advisors ever. Amazon (and its vendors) have it New in paperback for $6.67 plus shipping. Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0805011714/sr=/qid=/ref=olp_tab_new?ie=UTF8&coliid=&me=&qid=&sr=&seller=&colid=&condition=new

********
Here’s a minor writer’s pdf on the subject for $9.95:

http://shop.hollylisle.com/index.php?crn=214&rn=356&action=show_detail


How a playwrite does it (free article):

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Writing-Plays-Screenwriting-677/Character-Realism-1.htm

Another free article:

http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/writing_characters.html

However, Seger’s book should be in *any* screenwriter’s library. She knows whereof she speaks. You won't regret acquiring it.

Ernie

[Ulysses]

Make them sound and feel different from each other.

1. The words he actually says.
His particular way of building his sentences, being precise or just hinting things, peppering everything with one of the alternative modal verbs to f*ck and to sh%t, speaking in three or four word-phrases, talking like a tax form, wording every utterance like a military order, etc.

2. How does he interact with others? In dialogue, or non-verbally (the realm of gestures, twitches, looks, emotional reactions, etc.). No conversation is 100% economical - how are the misunderstandings working? The way a character interprets what's been said says a lot about him without many words. One always puts things in a sexual contest, another one sees a threat in everything that's being said.

Generally, leaving room for the actor/the reader's imagination by not being too precise. It's not necessary that everybody gets what the writer exactly means.

It's always surprising how good writing and good character development leaves room for the actor to breathe in that role and flesh it out. And how those gaps in the presentation spur the reader's and the actor's imagination as it fills in those gaps.

[redwriter]

I can tell you what I do a lot of the time. To keep my characters from becoming generic stereotypes, I usually try to think of some of the larger-than-life people I've come across in my life. Not your average Joes...the really colorful, dramatic types we all know or have known.

I may refer to a former co-worker who had the entire office in stitches daily with his mannerisms and one-liners or the histrionic neighbor who revealed her abnormal GYN test results to me the first time she introduced herself. If I at least start with the shell of someone I'm familiar with, I can hear them and speak for them in their own unique way. The trick is to be flexible enough to mix those people you've known with new character traits so you don't get stuck saying "Johnny would never do that..."

[Sinnycal]

A simple trick is to cast the character.

You'll drive yourself crazy trying to envision a brand new imaginary person with an entirely invented voice, speech patterns, and mannerisms. Mentally cast Steve Buscemi, for example, and you'll find yourself naturally distinguishing his voice from other characters, but it won't necessarily be recognizable to readers as Steve Buscemi.

[FADE IN]

I understand what it means to develop character's unique 'voices' in a story, i'm just having a painful time trying to accomplish it. Can anyone recommend a good article, book, or perhaps some suggestions?

Thanks in advance!
chip
There's been some good suggestions for you here. I'm also a fan of Linda Seger, any book by her will serve you well.

But here's another approach not yet mentioned and that is, model your characters on people you know or have known and when you write them think about how those people speak/spoke and emulate that in your dialogue.

Also, when you're out and about do some common writer's homework and listen to people speaking, pick up on their particular inflections, word choices, and manner of speech.

It's also of course a function of who your characters are. If they're an airline pilot, that's one thing, if they're someone who managers boxers, that's another thing, and if they're a fry cook, that's yet another thing, and so on. Educational and family background, life experience, ethnocentricities, economic level, profession or work trade, religious beliefs ... all these things bear on how people speak, which was sort of exemplified in the asking for the salt example.

As for becoming your character, well that too has merit, it's just that we're not all method actors. I sometimes think of it like sculpting, creating a human statue out of marble or stone. We writers "carve" our characters out of whole cloth, from an idea to a reality on the page. This is akin to sculpting.

My screenwriting software allows me to select any given character and print all their speeches. When I'm into a third draft I might print all the speeches of the prinicples, lay them side-by-side and compare them ... so as to see if there's too much similarity among them and to ensure they are each unique.

This is not something one learns to do well overnight, obviously. The more you write, the better at it you will become. Practice, as they say, makes perfect. And it's true.

[ChipC]

All - every response here is great advice and I thank everyone for their input and suggestions! Glad I asked!

chip

[THEUGLYDUCKLING]

i heard some very good advice recently, it might have been eight years ago, or yesterday, i'm not quit sure, but the person said that write the characters first, then go back and add to them, subtract etc so the dialogue gains truth as the story unfolds.

V-ugly

[Rantanplan]

-Observe people around you. Write down things that are interesting about them. Do they cackle, do they snort, do they pull at their hair, scratch their head etc? How do they hold a cigarette, a glass of wine, a chainsaw?

-One of the easiest ways to establish character voice is to give each one specific expressions to use, along with specific gestures. These get peppered throughout the script and aid in establishing that person as an individual. It's about giving them each a signature.

One of James Bond's signatures in the franchise pre-Daniel Craig, was the martini shaken not stirred. Some little recurring thing like that goes a long way in establishing character and creating a memorable personality.

[reddery]

little more advice on the advanced side is to not use an uninteresting "voice". Sounds like simple advice, but think about it...

what makes Will Hunting character's voice so interesting -- he really always has something to say. Lester Burnham in American Beauty - with his give a sh!t attitude. A deviant Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie.

Situation ->character ->theme

Or maybe...

Character ->Situation ->Theme

...but never

Theme ->Character ->Situation;)