It’s All in the Voice (Part 2 of 2) + A Contest!

In Part 1, we talked about author voice and how to peel away layers of our identity to get to the juicy stuff–the unique voice in all of us. Today we’ll tackle character voice.

So how do we make our protagonist’s voice grab our readers by the throat? 

We mold and shape their voice through their…

Words

What your characters say, the expressions they use, differentiates them from others. JUST LIKE IN REAL LIFE. I’m a thirty-something, middle class woman. How I speak is vastly different from a poor, male teenager from the Bronx. Your characters should not sound like you, they should sound like themselves.

Thoughts

What does your protagonist think about? I think about my kids and spending quality time with my husband. I worry about juggling family life and work. I yearn for success in my career, for spiritual fulfillment in whatever form that takes. Our boy from the Bronx thinks about school, the hot girl with pink sneakers in biology, or basketball practice. He worries about dodging the bullies on the corner and having enough money for lunch. He yearns for graduation, for basketball to somehow carry him far away from his run-down home, and to have all the things he doesn’t have. Again, different worlds=radically different thoughts. Tailor your protagonist’s inner voice to their situation.

Actions

How does your protagonist react in certain situations or settings, or to others?  Consider their history. If Jane survived abuse and is an adult woman trying to find herself, she may be skittish around men. Or maybe Jane’s angry as hell and burns things and has loads of piercings. The cool thing is, you get to decide how your character reacts, but it’s important to keep those reactions consistent and true to the personality you’ve contrived for them. In either case, your protagonist’s actions and reactions are a strong component of their voice.

Word View

How does your protagonist view the world? They may have come from a crappy, hard-knock background, but maybe they’re a warrior, a survivor. They see life’s letdowns as a challenge—something to conquer. Life is a game of chess and they’re going to play and win. Or maybe they’re the victim of their own destiny. They complain and whine and want everyone to feel sorry for them, to lavish them with attention. Life is out to get them. The way a character sees the world around them, how they understand (or don’t) the people around them, AND how they deal with it feeds into their voice.

Now that we’ve talked about author voice and character voice, I’d love to see yours at work!!

It’s All in the Voice Contest

Post the first 250 words of your novel to your blog, hop around and give feedback to others May 16t and 17th, and submit your final version by midnight, May 18th. Winners of the most grabby voice will WIN PRIZES!!! Prizes include: an author marketing phone consultation with bestselling, self-published author Leia Shaw, FREE editing of your first 15 pages from moi (a $50 value), free books, and more! Sign-ups go live MONDAY, MAY 13th. Stay tuned!