 Drama: December 13, 2011 Issue [#4753] |
  Drama
This week: Hearing Voices inside Our Heads Edited by: Joy  
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I want to put a ding in the universe.
Steve Jobs
I don't want to say I hear voices; well, actually I do hear voices, but I don't think it's supernatural. I think it's just that when characters are given enough texture and backbone, then lo and behold, they stand on their own.
Anne Tyler
I created the characters from what I read in the script. I decided how I should talk, accent, no accent, my own voice, or a created voice. Then, I visualize what I should look like.
Ruth Buzzi
I have friends who wear Star Wars costumes and act like the characters all day. I may not be that deep into it, but there's something great about loving what you love and not caring if it's unpopular.
Kristen Bell
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. Our discussion is on character and story voices .
Note: In the editorial, I refer to the third person singular as he, to also mean the female gender, as I was taught in school. Truth is, I don't like to use they or he/she, and no other viable alternative exists for political correctness.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
If you are blogging, the style you write your blog is your voice. To the readers, your words sound as they imagine you would utter them. If you were to write a letter to a close friend, chances are you would sound a little different. In either case, the more natural you sound, the better the effect of your words. The same is true of your characters and the stories you create.
Usually, when people talk of voice, they refer to the author's voice, as his writing style, subjects, details, and diction. They also stress the fact that authors find their voices through a great amount of experience. Voice, however, does not dwell in the writing-style domain only. Each separate piece of writing, each separate story, and each character in a story has a distinct voice. At this time, let us leave aside the writer's overall voice and focus on those separate voices he creates.
Your story's voice is the collective effect it leaves on the reader because each story has a personality of its own. This voice or story personality stems from the story's genre, the general point of view in the story, the style in which the exposition and dialogue are expressed, the story details, and the use of the language.
Here are two examples from two different stories by the same author. In both examples, someone walks away.
 Lloyd put his arm around his wife's waist and tried to kiss her, but she shook him off with magnificent scorn. Poor fellow! he had coveted a 'devilish fine woman', and he had got one. Her scorn was intolerable. He walked away with his ears tingling--irresolute, distracted.
By Henry James, from The Romance of Certain Old Clothes
 I laid my hand on her arm, respectfully. "You mean," I said, "that the house is haunted?"
She drew herself away, colored, raised her finger to her lips, and hurried into the house, where, in a moment, the curtains were dropped over the windows.
By Henry James, from The Ghostly Rental
As you have noted, we heard two different story voices from the same author.
Where character pieces are concerned, especially in novels, most authors swear that, as they write, they hear the characters' exact voices, their intonations, and their specific ways of stressing on some words. I'm sure this has happened to you, as it happens to me sometimes, especially when the characters become too real to believe that they are born from our imaginings. Our story characters acquire their specific voices because an actual voice has pitch, timbre and tone, and everyone speaks with a different feel and accent to fit his backstory and place of origin. Character voices can also be distant, formal, chatty, friendly, suspicious, angry, hurt, etc. A character's voice reflects who he is.
Let us take a look at a few different character voices, in the first person point of view. Note how the different backgrounds have produced different voices.
 I am not a celebrity. I am not the child of a celebrity. I have never been married to, never been abused by, and never provided a kidney for transplantation into any celebrity. Furthermore, I have no desire to be a celebrity.
Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas
Tank froze, deer in headlights. Except with Tank, it was more like rhino in the headlights. Lula grabbed Tank and gave him a kiss, and Tank broke out in a sweat.
Janet Evanovich, Fearless Fourteen
Every night before I go to sleep, I talk to Jesus and tell Him how my day went. I take all my troubles to Him, always have. I don't kneel beside the bed or anything like that; I just lie down, tucked in for the night, and start talking.
Cassandra King, Making Waves
Here are a few exercises on voice, if you wish to practice:
 Think of some adjectives for your character's different traits. Write a short paragraph per trait using the character's voice, highlighting the quirky side of each trait. Try to hear the character's voice inside your head. Make what he says sound real. Don't be afraid of using off-color words.
Write a page or a story from the first person POV of an immigrant who knows little English. Hint: Let foreign words slip in.
Write a story or a few paragraphs from the point of view of a snob who has found himself in a very strange situation or place.
May the voices we create lead us to great success. 
Wishing you a wonderful holiday season...
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 Enjoy!
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Your Drama Newsletter Editors: NickiD89  Fyn  Joy
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
This Issue's Tip:
To highlight a character's emotion, juxtapose it--in some way--with an opposite, harsh vs. soft, without giving in to sappiness (e.g. cruelty with mercy, revenge with forgiveness, love with hate, etc.).
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A New E-Book by StephBee 
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Reading Recommendation: A book with drama
If you have a recommendation, a few words on a book or a product review, send it to me or to this newsletter. I'll highlight it here.
Reviewed by Cassidee 
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A submission to this newsletter: "Zena's Interview"
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling 
"Sometimes, things get interesting."
They certainly do.
Thanks.
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