The process, part 7 - Voice
Voice is complicated.
But, before we get into its intricacies, an apology. This is a very long post.
And although this will be my longest to date, I will hardly scratch the surface of this interesting element of the author’s toolkit.
So, maybe grab a cup of coffee, put your feet up and settle in for a long journey
What is Voice?
Well, there are two types of voice; author’s and characters’.
Because first person point-of-view (POV) combines the author’s voice with the main character’s voice, I will only talk about third person POV in this blog.
How does author’s voice work?
When writing in the third person POV, whether third person limited or omniscient narrator, there is a distance between the reader and the characters which is bridged by the author’s voice. For the gap between author and reader to be narrowed, it’s important for the writer to choose language appropriate to the genre, era, location and the characters in the story. As authors try to create an immersive experience for the reader, an inconsistency can pull the reader out of the story and back to reality. For example a Victorian airship would not be turbo-charged and a modern street lit character would never be called a flibbertigibbet innit.
My personal technique is to stand in the scene visualising events and pace the scene accordingly, using short punchy words and sentences for fast action, and long flowing sentences for descriptions. Consistency of style for each POV is the key.
What are character voices?
Character voice helps the reader to get under the skin of each character. Voice encompasses everything about the individual, including, but not limited to, upbringing, social status, gender, race, age, mental and physical health, environment etc. All these elements and more, influence how a character speaks and how they react to situations as they occur. And consistent reactions to similar events in the story increases a character’s authenticity and believability.
I believe it’s important to ensure each of the characters, particularly those pivotal to the plot, have discernibly different personalities; especially those with similar beliefs. Whilst it’s obvious that members of warring factions will have very contrasting ideologies and therefore distinctive voices - after all, one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist - those who share the same beliefs must also have different voices.
As an example, in the trilogy, Connie and Rory are twin sisters, members of the upper echelons of Victorian Manchester society and devoted members of the Order, sharing a strong belief in protecting Mother Earth. But their voices are very different. Rory is a gregarious, stylish, urban socialite, whilst her twin is a quiet, doting sister, happy to take a step aside when Rory falls for Tabby. As mentioned in an earlier blog, the importance of backstory to anchor the voice of a character cannot be overstated.
I like to establish a character’s voice as early as possible, either by action or dialogue.
Of these, dialogue is the easiest and quickest.
Dialogue
When crafting a scene which includes dialogue, I ‘hear’ the words being spoken; the inflection, the attitude of the speaker and their intended meaning. Then it’s my job to write the dialogue in such a way that the reader ‘hears’ the words as I did.
To achieve this, I consider the following:
Who is speaking
To whom the character is speaking
Context
And the perception of the reader
Let’s deal with these in pairs.
Who is speaking to whom
Identifying each speaker is done by using ‘tags’ which fall into two categories, dialogue and action. Examples of dialogue tags are: he said, she asked, Jack whispered, Jill shouted. But using dialogue tags for each line of dialogue is boring. So instead, action tags are used before, after or during a line of dialogue to add variation. For example -
“Two pints, landlord!” He slapped the tenner on the bar.
And…
“Give it to me,” Jill snatched the map as Jack pulled it out of his rucksack. “Just as I thought. We’ve been walking in the wrong direction. The well is on that hill over there!”
When there are only two people talking, by starting a new line each time a character speaks, once the characters are identified, tags can be omitted to speed up the dialogue. For example -
“OK, I’ll bite. What’s the matter?” Jack rolled his eyes as he flopped onto the couch next to Jill and reached for her hand.
“Nothing.”
“So, you’re crying for no reason?”
“What does it matter to you?”
“Because I care…”
“You only care about yourself,” Jill’s eyes flashed as she wrenched her hand from his limp grip; remembering how Jack had let her fall.
Jill is clearly distraught and unimpressed by Jack’s here-we-go-again ambivalence.
Context and reader perception
Scene and character descriptions together with the reader’s experiences, memories and mood, can influence how a reader interprets the words on the page. For example, I recently read a detective noir novel where a forties-style mob boss was described as middle-aged and very large. Whenever he spoke, I ‘heard’ Sidney Greenstreet from the movie adaptation of Dashiell Hammet’s novel, The Maltese Falcon. Maybe that’s what the author intended, but it’s more likely down to my age and love of old movies.
Let’s try an experiment…
Here’s a sentence which includes dialogue with no indication of who is speaking to whom and with no context. Please read the phrase and imagine the scene. Then I will give you four scenarios, by adding a sentence or two which should change how you ‘hear’ the words in your mind.
His thumb left a smear on his forehead as he pushed back his cap and looked up. His eyebrows raised above his widening grin. “Yeah, right.”
Now, by adding who’s speaking to whom with a little context, your perception of the scene and the way you read the sentence will change.
Little Jimmy slid his toy spanner around the plastic nut and tapped the man’s arm. “Right to tighten, isn’t it, granddad?”
The old man’s hands were covered in ink from his newspaper. His thumb left a smear on his forehead as he pushed back his cap and looked up. His eyebrows raised above his widening grin. “Yeah, right.”
Here’s another scenario…
He heard the clickety-click of heels long before his eyes, peering between the engine and the raised hood, rose up the long legs that disappeared beneath the hem of her short skirt. Her high-pitched voice was reminiscent of a fifties movie star. “Is the washroom behind the door on the right, sugar?”
His thumb left a smear on his forehead as he pushed back his cap and looked up. His eyebrows raised above his widening grin. “Yeah, right.”
And another…
His father stomped across the garage floor and slapped his hand on the wing of the classic 1965 Aston Martin. “Dammit, George! You’ve been working on that engine for weeks. I’d have had it fixed in an hour!”
George had heard it all before. His thumb left a smear on his forehead as he pushed back his cap and looked up. His eyebrows raised above his widening grin. “Yeah, right.”
And finally, part of an unedited draft I wrote a while ago that prompted this exercise. An homage to Chandler…
Rico Beretta crouched behind the trunk of the bullet-riddled ‘47 Buick. He’d been knocked about in the crash but at least he was still breathing. Unlike Moose and ‘Wheels’ Moretti who were still inside the flipped Roadster.
Wheels would be weeping if he could see his beloved Buick. He had cajoled the V8 Fireball engine to purr and spent countless hours caressing its sweetheart curves, polishing the bodywork to a mirror-glow. But an instant before shattering the windshield, the .45 calibre round that had exploded through his skull had splattered his scarlet love across the glass in a splash of bloody gore. And without Wheels skilled guidance, the jilted roadster had veered off the straight and narrow, kissed the kerb and wrapped itself around the lamppost on the corner of Ninth and Forty-second, coming to rest on its side, bleeding gas and gore over the sidewalk.
“It’s over, Rico!” The bullhorn boomed with a familiar voice. He dropped onto his haunches, fearful of another hail of bullets. “Come out with your hands up. We ain’t gonna shoot.” Moose and Wheels would disrespectfully disagree.
“You’re dirty O’Shaughnessy. The girl knows. I know. And soon, the department will know. She’s got the goods on you. You’re finished!” The acrid stink of burning rubber stung Rico’s eyes. He pressed his fingers against the hole where the bullet exited his upper arm to staunch the blood. It was a only flesh wound but it hurt like hell.
A creak and a click behind him. He froze.
Either the goon was a rookie or a vet who hadn’t broken in his police-issue boots. Either way, a cocked Smith and Wesson was probably aiming between his shoulder blades. Or higher.
Rico stayed down. Light from the setting sun cast long shadows down Forty-second Street towards him and reflected off the dark pools leaking from the Buick. As it was probably the last thing he would see he committed the scene to memory. He palmed his snub-nosed colt. One bullet in the chamber, two more in the cylinder. He set his jaw. In the dark puddles, an upside-down reflection of a dark fedoraed figure in a trench coat stepped from behind the Buick’s crumpled hood, dangling a submachine gun from its right hand.
“Drop it, Rico. Malone’s got the drop on you. The blonde ain’t worth dyin’ for.”
O’Shaughnessy was wrong. Very wrong.
“You’re gonna tell us where she’s holed up. Or we end it here.” The voice was a lethal cocktail of anger and fear.
Rico sagged his shoulders, but beneath, every muscle was a coiled spring held only by a thought. He watched the reflection raise the Tommy gun to waist level.
A warm trickle of blood dripped from his fingers. His thumb left a smear on his forehead as he pushed back his cap and looked up. His eyebrows raised above his widening grin. “Yeah, right.”
Whichever of the three scenes ‘sounded’ most like your reading of the original sentence, probably speaks to your memories and mood!
Actions
If you’re still reading, I’m humbled, thank you!
But just one brief note on how actions express voice.
More often than not, actions speak louder than words. Dialogue can get the finer points of voice across, but a punch in the face has more impact. Unpredictable characters react unpredictably. A disrespectful glance, a challenge, a startling surprise. All these things might elicit a violent reflex if the character is impulsive, angry, self-absorbed, insecure or inarticulate. And nothing says unstable like a vicious attack.
Whereas a measured response to confrontation can show a calculating, calm, modest, confident, thoughtful character. But it may also indicate a devious, silver-tongued villain, achieving their goal without having to resort to violence.
In summary
A combination of actions, dialogue and exposition, in varying proportions as necessary, should establish character voice to bring them to life.
And finally…
I hope I have given prospective authors an insight into the importance of voice in crafting a narrative. All the views expressed here relate to my writing process and are by no means intended to be definitive or an instructional guide. Each author must develop their own methods for establishing a writing style and character voices.
This week’s author and musicians are -
Raymond Chandler - Author of hard-boiled Detective Fiction.
Forever Still - Danish Alternative Metal band fronted by Maja Shining.
Next week… Self editing