How You Say: some thoughts on finding a character's voice.

Sep 12, 2010 08:26

This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately, and maybe some of you out there will find something useful in my thinkfulness ( Read more... )

discuss, meta

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Comments 84

thewaterbandit September 12 2010, 15:54:09 UTC
This kind of reminds me of something I read on mightygodking a while back on the same topic- he rewrites the Gettysburg Address as a way of nailing down character voice (Here's the link: http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2007/09/10/on-voice/ ). Your matrix is a little handier though, I think :p

(One of the problems for me is removing all of the character's verbal tics- and then going back and taking away all of my writing tics!)

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pyrrhiccomedy September 13 2010, 18:29:21 UTC
he rewrites the Gettysburg Address as a way of nailing down character voice

...I might try that. >_>

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pyrrhiccomedy September 13 2010, 18:33:33 UTC
Personally, my descriptive writing and narrative is a lot better than my dialogue

Ah, I'm the opposite. ^_^; I really need somebody to like...slap me on the hand with a ruler every time I start getting so into the back-and-forth of my characters that I forget to put in ANY DESCRIPTION WHATSOEVER for like, half a page at a time.

orz.

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sara_rojo September 13 2010, 18:12:29 UTC
Wow, this is incredibly awesome, and comes at just the right time in my life ( ... )

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pyrrhiccomedy September 13 2010, 18:26:36 UTC
A good grasp on the characters' voices can make something with a fairly regular plot into something immensely entertaining, charming and witty. Poor grasp on this can make the most interesting plot in the world boring and dull, difficult to get through.

I completely agree!

It also made me realise that my love for FrUK probably stems from a good grasp on their voices, and the way they play off each other based on that.

Oh, God, I will totally ship something on the basis of how much I love their back-and-forth. It can be MADE TO WORK for their personalities, so long as I love how they talk to each other. XD

Except perhaps Italy, because in my mind, he's definitely Casual, the kind that only refers to others by their first name, and would behave the same way around a friend and a complete stranger

Ah, I think this is the difference between voice and personality! I think Italy has a very casual personality. Hugging people, falling asleep on their shoulders, asking them to carry him, those are all very casual things to do. But I don't ( ... )

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pyrrhiccomedy September 15 2010, 05:02:41 UTC
Glad you liked it! =D

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seminiray September 14 2010, 13:20:13 UTC
O8

Oh wow, thanks so much for writing and sharing this! <3

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pyrrhiccomedy September 15 2010, 05:03:13 UTC
I'm so happy it was helpful to you! =D

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