Character Development: Developing a Character Voice

Apologies for not posting in a while. I had a seasonal job that kept me far from home and off of internet for most of the day. I did get some writing done, including this blog post. I am now back to regular schedule. I will also be at Marscon, not as a panelist but with a table. If you happen to stop by, say hello. Free gift to anyone who stops at my table with the code ‘Whimsy’.

Character Development: Developing a character voice

The other day, I played around with freewriting, and got something I really liked. I’m going to share the couple paragraphs:

I live in a ghost town. It’s kind of dead here. But still a little crowded. Can’t go three steps without running into a ghost. It’s pretty spirited, you could say. Of course, they hate that kind of humor. They aren’t always that fond of the living, period. Or those in between, like me.

It wasn’t like I wanted to be a wraith. Honestly, it’s more a pain, than anything else. But, well, I guess that’s what happens when you mess around with magic books in languages you can’t read. It’s not my fault. I thought it was Latin. Turned out to be Portuguese. Go figure. Once that happened, well, we kind of had to move to the ghost town. Because let me tell you, ghost might not like the living, but the living really don’t like ghosts or those in between.

Following that trail, I discovered that my narrator is a teenage girl who is trying to sign up for a new school to learn to get a handle on her new abilities. I like the tone, it feels very inline with YA fantasy protagonists. I don’t have a premise or even a vague outline of a plot, but I have a character I want to learn more about.

A strong character can carry even a weak plot, but it takes an amazing plot to make up for weak characters. Naturally, what we want is strong characters in an amazing plot. But a good first step is having a character that readers will like enough to journey with. And a distinct voice is an excellent way to start.

Why did I say this felt like a YA protagonist? Part of it is the snarky sense of humor. That’s common in media for teens and up but seems to be almost essential in YA literature. She also deflects responsibility a little, admitting that she was playing with a magic book she couldn’t read, but saying it wasn’t her fault for getting the language wrong. I’m not saying that’s a teenage trait per se, but it is a mark of immaturity even if some people never grow out of it. Maybe that’s something she would have to work on over the course of the story.

What else did I learn from this exercise? Well, my character, who I named Alicia, is both pretty smart and a bit dumb. She must know at least some Latin, and enjoys wordplay, but she’s also reckless enough to go messing with a magic book that she couldn’t understand, when later writing shows that she knew good and well magic existed. In a world where magic is known to exist, I imagine that children are taught not to mess with magic they don’t understand the same way they are taught to not play with fire or cross the street without an adult.

Whether I meant to or not, my freewriting acted as a voice journal. I let the character talk to me and tell me what she was like. If you really want to explore a character and know who they are, try letting them write for a bit. Maybe all or part of the voice journal will end up in you book someday, maybe not. You can even explore in other directions. How might your character respond when writing a letter to complain about something? What would they consider worth writing to complain about? What might they write to a pen pal? How about writing a journal entry or two?

Actors will sometimes do the same thing when trying to get into a character. I remember taking a class on acting in high school where we had to do that for one role. All I really remember now is that my character was a kleptomaniac and when describing my house, I said I stole the paint. In my defense, that was a very long time ago.

Take some time, even if you typically write in third person point of view, to try writing as your character. You may discover some fascinating things, and you should get a better understanding of who they are.

Fair warning, since I have no plot or premise for the above idea and many other in progress projects, it will probably be a long time before Alicia is seen in books.

What have your characters told you about themselves?

Edited 1/02/23 to fix formatting issues