Characters need unique voices. It allows the author to move the story forward in a quicker pace than the description; it enables information that needs to be told to be done so in a way that can hide exposition—if done correctly; but perhaps more importantly, it shows the reader who the character is.
The way someone talks tells you a lot about their character. Each person has an idiolect unique to them—that is, each person has their personal grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary. They have their own sayings and their own body language.
It is their unique fingerprint.
Imagine if all characters spoke the same; if all your characters spoke with the Queen’s English. What would that be like?
Character 1: Good Morning, old chap, isn’t the weather delightful today?
Character 2: Is it? It’s a bit grey I would say. Not really a picnic day.
Character 1: Well, I best be off. Bye.
It would get boring quickly. Repetitive. You, as a reader, wouldn’t really care what they really were saying.
Let’s have a similar conversation, but let’s make these characters have their own voice.
Character 1: Mornin’! Delightful weather today, ain’t it?
Character 2: Hmmm, delightful? I suppose, if a castover sky is your thing. Wouldn’t take a chance with a picnic myself!
Character 1: Well… s’pose I best be off, see ya!
Immediately we notice the difference between the two characters. Not only does one of the characters drop their letters as they talk, we can see they are a friendly person trying to make light conversation.
Character two isn’t having it. Without even adding description, we can sense the tension. Character 2 finds character 1 annoying. They’re criticising them. They’re probably in a field and Character 1 is likely carrying a picnic basket, otherwise why would Character 2 mention it?
Character 1 gets the message and moves on.
This is shown not only how they speak, but their reaction to what the other person said. Action and Reaction.
But how do we give each character a unique idiolect?
Idiolect is an individual character’s way of talking. Their personal vocal grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Some of these unique ways of speaking, unique voices, can be categorised:
- The procrastinator
- The educator
- The catchphrase-user
- the pompous
- The wordsmith
Although they can be categorised, each character would use these in a different way to another. Two procrastinators will not be the same.
So how do these unique voices work?
The Procrastinator voice
I’ve come across one, you you probably have too. When I was in college, we were given the opportunity to attend a university lecture and get a taste of university life. But the lecturer did not speak with an educator voice, he spoke with a procrastinator voice.
This is… erm.. how… erm… we read a …erm… poem.
I kind you not. That is not an over exaggeration. He spoke like that for two hours straight. Another procrastinator might constantly change the subject. So if this lecturer was in the same room as a student who was also a procrastinator, the conversation might go something like this.
Lecturer: This is… erm.. how… erm… we read a …erm… poem.
Student: have you seen that concert? they’ll be reading shakespeare poems.
lecturer: yes, well, erm… if we… erm… open up to…erm sonnet 12…
Student: and they’ll be sung! imagine that.
Neither student nor lecturer is going to achieve much in this conversation as they both are procrastinators. However, an onlooker expecting to be taught poetry is going to be very annoyed by the end of the two hours.
This easily gets annoying if overused. I would use this for a maximum of one character.
This voice is best used when the main character is in a rush and needs to find something out. The character will be frustrated with the procrastinator that they may try and hurry them along in some form or another with little success.
The catchphrase user
This is actually a very common voice. You probably use this voice and don’t realise it. Parents and teachers will recognise it instantly. It is when a character often starts or ends a sentence with the same words. Constantly.
Ever heard a teenager start a sentence with like or so? What about someone ending a sentence with ya know? both very common.
One of my lecturers’ had one I had not heard before: “whatever”.
It’s hard to kind of write down how he said it, but he would explain something to us and then he would end every sentence with the word whatever.
lecturer: and that is the heroine’s journey. Whatever.
The catchphrase-user can use anything at the beginning, middle or end of the sentence. Another common one is taboo language. We all know a person who swears mid-sentence. So this idiolect can vary very much.
If you have two, three characters who are a catchphrase voice, the reader can identify them just by their catchphrase. But like anything, don’t overdo it. Limit it to two/three if you have a rather large list of characters.
There is no “best time” to use this voice. It just is, but it certainly can help with creating characters that stand out and seem flamboyant. This voice in particular can be used with other voices.
The Pompous voice
This is the smartalec kind of voice. The one that believes that they are better than anyone else.
Character: yes, well Harley and I are going to the theatre for the third time on saturday. Amature production but someone has to help fund their ambitions. Of course, they’ll never be as good as Martin Gross.
You can imagine this character just loves to show off, and this is what the pompous voice is all about.
Let’s make a conversation with a pompous character:
A woman picks up a teen book
pompous character: Ha! Another Mayer book, do you ever read the classics?
Woman: I read Charles Dickens
pompous character: I don’t like Dickens myself. Austen and Bronté, now they are classics! You should give those a read, rather than reading children books!
The pompous character felt impulsed to comment on what the woman reads. When the woman replies that they read Dickens, the pompous character acknowledges this, but then makes their preferred taste sound more superior because the response the woman gave was not what they expected.
The pompous character will often look down on others, and will try and make them feel inferior. Any character can have this voice, but if it is one of the major characters, have their journey enlighten them to turn this down a little.
Hermione starts off as a little pompous and grows to become a rebel.
The Educator voice
This person aims to teach her possible. They can also be described as the philosopher. The wise old man who tells the hero how to climb the mountain or give some meaning of life.
There is always light around the corner
Often, this person acts as a mentor to the main character. This character is Gandalf, Dumbledore, Merlin… yes, I just named three wizards with long beards (in some versions).
Katniss has a mentor in the Hunger Games, Haymitch. Haymitch doesn’t have a beard.
But essentially, this character gives wise advice to the hero so they can complete their quest. Which means, they are often found in the quest plot of the seven basic plots
The wordsmith voice
This character is interesting to me. Sometimes they are portrayed as an oracle. Sometimes as a d`eal-master. Words are their forté. This helps them hide their true motives from other characters.
Jack Sparrow and Barbosa from Pirates of the Caribbean are both wordsmiths, so the interaction between the two are often very interesting.
because nothing is more of a riddle than a prophecy. However, they can also be a character that is just really good at words.
To them, words mean everything. Vagueness is freedom. So if they are a seer, their prophecy will be unclear. This means that there are many ways a prophecy could be fulfilled, and whichever comes first takes the prominence.
Then you can have the ones who make deals, use specific words that give them loopholes. Some examples of riddlers on screen include Rumplestiltskein from Once Upon a Time,
In this particular scene, Rumplestiltskin hints that he knows Cinderella is trying to fool him, but he signs the contract anyway. He states that the debt will only grow, but does not say how. His motivation to sign the contract knowing it is a trick is also unknown at this point in time but becomes clearer as the series progress.
Additionally, Jack confuses these two navy officers by telling the truth in the hope that they think that he is lying, to confirm it is the truth in the hopes they believe its a lie.
Creating unique idiolect with pronunciation
Another way to utilise idiolect and create a unique character voice is to hint at how they speak.
Here are some examples:
- Alrigh’ bab? ‘ot day today, ain’t it? go’ eny plans today?
- aye mate, tha’s how ta do it.
- Ma! Ma! Come an’ look at this whopper of a spider.
- Mother! What have I told you about walking in those sandals?
The top line is a Brummy (birmingham, uk) accent, the second one could belong to a sailor or some other accent. The third one can be anyone but their use of ma instead of mother, and whopper instead of big hints at australian. The last person speaks Queen’s English.
Hint at where they from, their vocabulary such as whopper.
What do they call these types of bread? In Birmingham, it would be a bap. You would have a sausage bap, but in Derby… only 45 minutes away on the train, they are called cobs. Elsewhere calls them a batch.
Do they pronounce scone with the e, as in stone, or without the e as in schon.
It is the little detail like this that will make your character unique. Each of them will stand out in your text, no matter the form.
Thanks for reading
I hope you enjoyed this and learned how the different voices and character pronunciation can enhance your text. What is your favourite voice? I love the wordsmiths and the catchphrase-user voice.
Feel free to join my writer and book group
Booklovers, Authors & Reviewers