The voices... the voices...

[BiscuitHammer]

The ones in your head, yes, but I'm specifically referring to the ones you impart to the characters in your stories. Sometimes, I can't really equate their voices with anyone or anything. Other times, absolutely. Whether it's Mike DeBourne and his (maybe not quite so bombastic) Lion-o, Lord of the Thundercats voice, or Freja's throaty, garbled English, I always have a very good idea in my head about how my people sound.

Jeanie, my ditzy, slutty airhead with a heart of gold. If I could have anyone voice her, it'd be Mia Sloane, the erotic voice over actress. She'd be perfect. I think she'd work for Evangeline as well.

Becky, from Time Rider, sounds like Bernadette, from Big Bang Theory, but not quite that squeaky. Mind you, when she gets angry and goes all Krav-Maga on people, she sounds like angry Bernadette. Imagine Bernadette shrilling "I KICK YOU IN THE NUTS, RICHELIEU!!!", and that's what Becky sounds like when she kicks Cardinal Richelieu in the nuts.

What? Time travel is a weird thing. Deal with it.

And Krampus? He sounds like John DeLancie. A very pissed-off John DeLancie.

So what about the rest of you? Do any of your characters sound like Kevin Conroy, Christopher Walken, John Malkovich, or Minnie Driver? For me, it's always fun to hear what characters sound like according to their creators.

Let us hear (so to speak) some of your best!

 

[RetroFan]

I'll highlight the way a character speaks if its important to the story.

For example, in my Australian story 'Take Cover From Tracy' Beryl is referenced as having a particularly broad Australian accent, this feature also shared by the character Kayla in 'The Unsuitable Girlfriends'.

In another Australian story the character Dino comes from an Italian family, and his authoritarian father has a booming voice with a very strong Italian accent and generally poor English, such as saying to his son: 'You a stupid-a smart ass, you watch-a you mouth or I teach-a you some manners.' or 'You are bad boy Dino, you use-a an internet to look through windows at naked girls'.

In my story 'Spoiled Princess Hates Camping' one of the characters Travis is from New Zealand with this unusual accent highlighted, but by contrast in 'The Cop in the Bathroom Closet' which is set in New Zealand none of the characters have their Kiwi accents highlighted because they're all New Zealanders and it wouldn't stand out.

Debbie from 'Debbie the Dumb Gold Digger' is referenced as speaking with a high pitched voice, which helps highlight her lack of intelligence.

Other times I use accents to show the differences between characters. In 'The Coal Miner & the Conservative' most of the characters are from Yorkshire, and their regional accents are evident. This contrasts with another character Felicity, who is from a wealthy area of London and speaks with a posh British accent.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Interesting thought. Thinking about it, I might give a character an "accent" or a "low" voice, or a whisper, some detail like that, but I never hear that voice in my head, I never have a sound for it. Whereas physical details, gestures and so on, I have a very clear vision - and will often find pics of women who are "her."

 

[stellataylor]

Interesting thought. Thinking about it, I might give a character an "accent" or a "low" voice, or a whisper, some detail like that, but I never hear that voice in my head, I never have a sound for it. Whereas physical details, gestures and so on, I have a very clear vision - and will often find pics of women who are "her."

This is interesting to me! I absolutely never have a physical picture in my head of any of my characters (beyond general details), nor do I really have a “vision” of what they’re doing in my head.

I do, however, hear their voices as I write their dialogue. I have to try really hard to refrain from using too many long dialogue tags, since I know they can be distracting. I just can’t help wanting to describe my character’s voice/tone in detail, since I hear it so clearly in my head.

Especially the dirty talk/particularly hot things that my characters say. Oof.

 

[Rustyoznail]

So far my characters are physically similar to people I know, so they tend to have their verbal characteristics.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Interesting thought. Thinking about it, I might give a character an "accent" or a "low" voice, or a whisper, some detail like that, but I never hear that voice in my head, I never have a sound for it.

Same. I will usually have a strong idea of vocabulary and other speech patterns, but not the voice.

 

[Handley_Page]

The ones in your head, yes,
.
.
What? Time travel is a weird thing. Deal with it.

And Krampus? He sounds like John DeLancie. A very pissed-off John DeLancie.

So what about the rest of you? Do any of your characters sound like Kevin Conroy, Christopher Walken, John Malkovich, or Minnie Driver? For me, it's always fun to hear what characters sound like according to their creators.

Let us hear (so to speak) some of your best!

Ah, John De Lancie, aka "Q".
Other voices of interest?
Christopher Lee, Boris Karlov, Eartha Kitt, and many others, particularly from cartoons.

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

So far my characters are physically similar to people I know, so they tend to have their verbal characteristics.

Same. I will usually have a strong idea of vocabulary and other speech patterns, but not the voice.

Ditto. Even to the extent that my characters are directly based on real people that I know, they are all entirely fictional inventions. In my head, I have a strong idea of their vocal cadence, tone and pitch, manner of speaking and physical looks, but it’s not based on or related to the specific voice or face of any already exsisting person or character.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm more like EB and not like BH. I don't think of their voices ore accents at all. I may pay attention to diction, slang, that sort of thing, to distinguish characters from one another, but not a great deal.

But I have clear physical pictures of my characters even if I don't describe them in detail. I'm very visually oritented, and that visual element is part of my enjoyment of writing a story.

 

[gordo12]

I don't hear voices at all but have very strong visual ideas of the women. Not so much the men. For instance Catherine Deneuve is my visual for Westerns. Etc.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Working on a bespoke mermaid story. The heroine finds after her transformation that she is increasingly led to sing, vice speak, whenever she opens her mouth.

 

[SamScribble]

I spent several years writing for radio. Voices are everything.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Working on a bespoke mermaid story. The heroine finds after her transformation that she is increasingly led to sing, vice speak, whenever she opens her mouth.

Thinking about my response above some more, this post reminded me - in my own story about a mermaid and then my alien angel, I had to figure out a way of writing strange verbal atonation. It's hard to do in a delicate, unobtrusive way, so it doesn't get in the way of the writing, but it can be done.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I spent several years writing for radio. Voices are everything.

Your dialogue is always very natural and flows beautifully, Sam, but I never "hear" it being spoken, yet I can "see" your characters speaking. This is quite intriguing. In my latest story I've given the heroine a faint eastern European or Russian accent, because the woman who inspired it had such an accent, but I wonder if other readers "hear" it the same way i do?

From replies in this thread I see that folk are revealing themselves as "very visual," or "very aural" but not so many both - which makes sense, we're all neurologically wired differently. I wonder what tiny clues we place in our writing automatically, unconsciously, that provide clues for readers? Readers have said of my writing that it engages all the senses, but I'm not sure I know how I actually do that. Sometimes it's really obvious to me when I'm writing it, but I wonder if I'm leaving little grace notes that aren't so obvious, which tickle the subconscious.

What an interesting question, OP, thank you. I'll be pondering it some more. I can hear my old betas saying, "Christ on a bike, EB, just undo the fucking buttons, don't start talking to them!"

 

[Hypoxia]

My characters, reality-based or invented, tend to look and sound somewhat like people I think I know or can concoct. I might mention any relevant vocal qualities but I guess I mostly merely allow readers to hear what they think they hear. Is that lazy?

 

[ElectricBlue]

My characters, reality-based or invented, tend to look and sound somewhat like people I think I know or can concoct. I might mention any relevant vocal qualities but I guess I mostly merely allow readers to hear what they think they hear. Is that lazy?

I don't think it's lazy, more a reflection on how tricky it can be to put across vocal attributes using words. It's like describing smells or touch, you have to find ways to get words to conjure up the five senses.

 

[SamScribble]

Your dialogue is always very natural and flows beautifully, Sam, but I never "hear" it being spoken, yet I can "see" your characters speaking.

Thank you, EB. I'll take that as a compliment.

One of the several producers with whom I worked, had also worked with Harold Pinter and a few other luminaries. One of the things that Ross used to say was: 'On radio, the listener sees the characters through the words they speak.'

 

[SimonDoom]

My characters, reality-based or invented, tend to look and sound somewhat like people I think I know or can concoct. I might mention any relevant vocal qualities but I guess I mostly merely allow readers to hear what they think they hear. Is that lazy?

I don't think it's lazy at all. It all depends on what the needs of the story are. If you are writing a story where vocal distinctions between characters don't matter, or where local dialects don't exist or aren't important, or where the voice isn't a part of the personality, it doesn't matter.

One can really overdo this sort of thing. A stylistic tic of the Harry Potter series was Rowling constantly referring to Voldemort's "high clear voice." It happened so much you could almost turn its frequency into a good drinking game.

 

[LexxRuthless]

When I am writing my dialog for my male leads, I often hear the voice of Patrick Warburton's character Brock Samson. Then I do my best to make sure that NEVER makes it into my story.

 

[gordo12]

Y

From replies in this thread I see that folk are revealing themselves as "very visual," or "very aural" but not so many both - which makes sense, we're all neurologically wired differently.

Reading the various responses that comes through clearly. Including my very visual orientation toward the women. I hadn't twigged to that before.

It's something to recognize and an opportunity to work on improving another aspect of your writing. What a great question this turned out to be.