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They have their own way of expressing themselves. Perhaps they're forceful, always cutting others off. Or, maybe they're very proper, speaking in distinct tones. Perhaps they're laid back, using words like, "yeah," or "whatever. It's up to the author to develop character voice for their creations. It will be one of the key elements of a character's personality.
For example, an accent or snarky tone of a character can tell us a lot about their personality and experiences. If they stutter or are afraid to speak up, it helps to build the character. Once a character's voice is established, it's important to remain consistent. Their background and personal experiences shape a character's language. Their age, nationality and life experiences may or may not reflect the writer's thoughts or feelings.
John Steinbeck carefully considered character voice when he wrote Of Mice and Men. With a fast talker and a nervous speaker, Steinbeck created two characters with stark differences.
First, we have Lennie Small. Despite his last name, he's actually a large man with a mental handicap. To play off Lennie, Stein created George Milton, his best friend, who's very small and quick-witted. George is also Lennie's caretaker.
Sometimes, it seems like he's harsh toward Lennie. But, in reality, he loves him deeply and enjoys having someone to care for. I could go get a job an' work, an' no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the month come I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want… An' whatta I got?
I got you! You can't keep a job and you lose me ever' job I get. Jus' keep me shovin' all over the country all the time. Lennie doesn't usually go off on rants like George. Even without as much text, we can quickly pick up on the differences between the two. Here is a passage spoken by Lennie:. Charlotte's Web is a classic for a reason. The characters in this book are so different, creating a wonderful, multi-layered dynamic between the cast of friends.
Charlotte, the spider, has a caring, selfless demeanor. She's kind of the voice of reason. Then, we have Wilbur, the pig.
Beyonce has that smoky Southern grit in her voice while using vibrato and growls across her 3. A Jackson Pollock painting would never be confused with a Picasso. For example, Shonda Rhimes and Phoebe Waller-Bridge have vibrant, provocative voices that use monologues and rapid-fire dialogue while transcending genre or format. For this article, I randomly flipped to a scene in the pilots for Scandal and Fleabag because the voice is consistent and clear no matter where you drop in.
I ended up rereading both pilots because they are that good. In Fleabag , Phoebe efficiently paints a picture of this sibling relationship as fraught and deep, followed by a moment of softness, then wham ends on that elegant crassness. Voice is the result of incorporating a unique mix of perspective, approaches, and skills until a singular voice emerges.
Why do we hear this refrain so often?
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