Struggles With Voice

[LAHomedog]

Has anyone ever struggled with the voice of a character or your characters when writing a new story?

It's a weird and different phenomenon for me because usually when I start writing a story I have it fully realized in my mind's eye prior to starting, but I jumped into my Valentine's story still half-baked because I was late thanks to my non-heart attack heart attack

I know I'll get there, but I'm wondering how everybody else deals with it?

 

[NotWise]

Has anyone ever struggled with the voice of a character or your characters when writing a new story?

It's a weird and different phenomenon for me because usually when I start writing a story I have it fully realized in my mind's eye prior to starting, but I jumped into my Valentine's story still half-baked because I was late thanks to my non-heart attack heart attack

I know I'll get there, but I'm wondering how everybody else deals with it?

I need to have some concept of voice before I write. I can synopsize the story without a clue, but the narrator and characters have to have their own voice before I start writing.

The worst case for me is when I start the story and the voices don't come out right. I can scrap it or think it through and rewrite, but forging ahead doesn't work.

 

[lovecraft68]

Probably the same thing, just different term, but for me its 'feel'. I've started stories with a good idea of what I want, but at times stop and think the feel is off. Maybe its getting a bit dark and that wasn't the intent, maybe its too playful and I wanted more serious.

I'll usually take one shot at trying again to see if I can find that feel, but if it keeps seeming off I'll leave it be for awhile.

 

[SimonDoom]

Can you elaborate? I'm curious about what you mean.

I think about the voices of my characters, because I don't want them to just sound like me. And it takes a little doing to make sure they don't.

 

[LAHomedog]

Can you elaborate? I'm curious about what you mean.

I think about the voices of my characters, because I don't want them to just sound like me. And it takes a little doing to make sure they don't.

That's a part of what I'm talking about. You know how I'm always posting about how a lot of writer's characters all sound alike. And also know how much emphasis I put on getting the dialogue right.

I'm opening this story with a heartbreak, and struggling with getting the narrator's voice right since he opens with a broken heart.

It's a story about romantic redemption.

I think I may have finally hit on it this right around dinner time. I've been married for so long, I had to dig deep and go deep into my youth on the "way-back" machine.

Probably overly ambitious for trying to rapidly knock out a Valentine's Day story.

 

[shakna]

Until I get the voice of a character right, nothing else ever comes together. The tone of the individuals governs so many various aspects that I have to scrap all other efforts until that one works. (Well, I never actually delete anything I write, but it gets put aside.)

Sometimes, I just can't get it, and that's the main reason a tale will languish in the unfinished pile.

As for "tricks" in finding the right voice, I sometimes will throw together a one-off piece that doesn't fit into the narrative, but will let me get comfortable with how the character should sound. Or I might do a little dive into the subcultures that the character could be expected to be a part of.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Has anyone ever struggled with the voice of a character or your characters when writing a new story?

It's a weird and different phenomenon for me because usually when I start writing a story I have it fully realized in my mind's eye prior to starting, but I jumped into my Valentine's story still half-baked because I was late thanks to my non-heart attack heart attack

I know I'll get there, but I'm wondering how everybody else deals with it?

All the damn time. For me it takes a while to find a character's voice, so it's good to practice in that for a bit before writing the material that actually appears in the story - shakna's suggestion is an example of how that can be done. Sometimes once I'm at the end of the story I'll go back and check that the material I wrote earlier is consistent with how the voice has evolved by the end of it.

 

[TadOverdon]

I wind up writing a lot of conversations that don't make it to the final story. I have something that's shaping up as 55-60,000 words. I've written over 100,000 and probably four-fifths of the excess is people talking.

I'm not trying to do it. I hate that it's so much waste and it seems undisciplined. But somewhere in the process the characters get "dialed in" and I sense when they're saying or doing something not right for them.

I think I've had all of one character who I "heard" immediately and never got lost with.

 

[MrPixel]

Interesting. I have no problem with voice. Each character is fully realized in their introduction into the story. And each is unique. Must be a knack.

My favorite character for voice is a female Harvard lawyer who has a clipped banter with the first-person main character; they are also infrequent lovers. The dialog almost writes itself with them. It’s fun!