character voice

Creating unique character voice for your characters is essential for great fiction. Even classical writers like Tolkien writing in omniscient point of view were able to imbue their characters with enough uniqueness that you felt like they were an individual. Yes, precious.

In writing styles like deep point of view where the writer needs to become invisible and let the character tell the story entirely, creating unique voices for each pov character can be challenging.

Before I turned to writing and teaching writing full time, I worked as a freelancer which roughly translated to writing anything for practically anyone. I did quite a bit of ghostwriting, usually for a president or CEO or founder of a non-profit. Oh – you thought they actually sat down and personally wrote all those direct mail campaigns and emails? 0_0

I had to completely disappear and write a piece that read like it had come from someone else. The best compliment I could get was to have a client tell me people commented that they sounded just like their blog, newsletter, whatever. That was the job. So, what’s the key to creating a unique voice and disappearing as the writer? (You might find this post – 4 ways to become invisible with deep pov interesting.)

Catchphrases and Signature Exclamations

When ghostwriting, I listened for a turn of phrase — something they repeated. One client kept saying to me he was “neck deep in alligators.” These little snippets were amazing glimpses into personalities and priorities.

How does the way your character phrases things show their personality or priorities?

“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”
Kathryn Stockett, The Help

Does your character have a signature phrase or exclamation? The phrase above tells us a lot about the character, doesn’t it. This character isn’t overly educated, but very kind and very wise.

“Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!”
Claire Fraser — Outlander, Diana Gabaldon

Claire is a character familiar with faith but not a strict adherent and doesn’t care who knows that, nor is she particularly lady-like given the time-period, or conventionally feminine. It just says so much about her character.

“You got some ‘splainin to do, Lucy!”
Ricky Ricardo — I Love Lucy!

“I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
The Godfather

“Bah! Humbug!”
Ebenezer Scrooge — A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

Each of these catchphrases signature exclamations gave audiences a good deal of insight into the character and how they saw the world.

You really only have to sprinkle in a few of these signature phrases or turns of speech to give credibility to character voice. Used sparingly, as you might add spice, it can be effective.

Metaphors and Similes

Metaphors and similes are perhaps the most common literary devices fiction writers use. Metaphors are more precise than similes but both can be effective. A simile is a comparison using “like” or “as” whereas a metaphor is a comparison not using like or as.

“. . . she tried to get rid of the kitten which had scrambled up her back and stuck like a burr just out of reach.”
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

“Elderly American ladies leaning on their canes listed toward me like towers of Pisa.”
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

An easy way to add character voice is have the character use those things they are most familiar with as metaphors and similes to describe things. She’s angrier than a hornet in a Coke can – what would that tell you about the character who said it?

“The café was like a battleship stripped for action.”
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

“The other was fair, as fair as can be, with great masses of golden hair and eyes like pale sapphires.” D
Dracula, Bram Stoker

Just remember to use metaphors and similes sparingly, for emphasis. In the quote from Stoker above, it would’ve been easy to slip in more than one simile there, but he’s only used one for punch. Love that.

Apply Filters

Everyone sees the world in their own unique way. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure and all that. What one person values has no value at all for another. What your character places value on shows readers what they care about, what they’re willing to fight for, die for, etc.

Your character’s perspective should color every word you use. Characters can show readers what they’re seeing by describing how they feel. Are they an optimist? Are they driven – what would they find annoying or ignore? Do they have an artist’s aesthetic appreciations or more of a soldier’s utilitarian focus?

Here’s an example of filters. Sarah is the point of view character in both bits below, but I’ll give Sarah two different “filters” that will affect how she describes what’s happening. Can you tell how Sarah feels in each example?

First Example

Catherine answered the door and invited Sarah to the back patio. She followed Catherine, tucking her elbows in and hunching her shoulders to avoid touching anything. If you-break-it-you-bought-it applies here, she’ll be broke before they get to the kitchen. Sarah asked questions about the different pieces of art and furniture, more questions than necessary to be polite. She pretended to brush dirt off the patio chair before sitting. Out of time.

Second Example

Sarah checked her watch again. Catherine opened the door finally and invited her to the back patio. Sarah could see the patio doors from the front entry, but Catherine insisted on taking the long way through the living room and kitchen. Catherine’s ability to decorate wasn’t going to get them out of this mess.

Remove Yourself

Some writing teachers place too much emphasis on developing their writer’s voice. I chased it for a good long time too, but I’ve come to learn that my author voice is simply which stories I choose to tell and how I choose to tell it.

Will you use profanity or not? Will your stories be fast-paced, dark, or always end happily-ever-after? Sometimes genre must dictate some of these choices, but please don’t mistake your writer’s voice for character voice.

Character voice will be distinct to one character and can and will change from novel to novel. How you tell a story and which stories you choose to tell, that will have more consistency between all your work.

Been told you should learn Deep Point Of View? Had an editor or critique partner tell you to “go deeper” with the emotions in your fiction? Looking for a community of writers seeking to create emotional connections with readers? Check out the Free Resource Hub and then join the Going Deeper With Emotions In Fiction Facebook group.

Connotation helps add unspoken meaning to readers through subtext. Connotation helps you show your reader backstory and character traits without telling them anything. It’s the writer’s job to be as economical as possible and make words pull double duty (say as many things to a reader as possible) so getting connotation to work FOR YOU is very helpful. At the very least, make sure it’s not working against you.

When someone drags their past into a situation we say they’ve got baggage. Every word has baggage. Every word has a past, an association, a history, and that’s brought with it into your work. Sometimes that baggage belongs to the reader – you can’t help that, sometimes it’s a historical event or etymology.

History Lends Connotation

If you decide to set your story in Chernobyl, that place name brings a lot of baggage with it. It could be a phrase: “I am no man!” or how about “Live long and prosper.” If a character uses those phrases that gives readers insights into your character.

My kids have each taken a turn reading The Great Gatsby and Fitzgerald uses the term “concentration camp” to mean something other than a reference to the death camps in World War 2. Of course, Gatsby was written before World War 2, but my teenagers stumbled over that trying to understand what Fitzgerald intended by using that term. I was editing a translation and the writer used ‘concentration camp’ which I substituted for ‘forced labor camp’ because the association to the death camps in World War 2 wasn’t intended.

You can’t shrug off connotation. You can’t say to yourself – well, I mean this word this way — because you won’t be in the ear of every reader explaining that to them, right. Be specific with your words.

Part Of Connotation Is Etymology

et·y·mol·o·gy: The study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

Anyone who’s studied Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Chaucer, etc. knows that language changes, it evolves. We don’t speak the same way they did in 1066 or 1546, and while we still use some of the same words, the meanings and usage may have changed. If you look in a dictionary, it will give you the etymology of a word whether its roots are in French, Old English (OE), Latin, or another language. Etymology is why English words have so many nuanced meanings based on context.

Nude is from the Latin (1525–35) nūdus: lacking clothing or covering, color of a white-person’s flesh

Naked is Middle English from the Old English (pre 900) nacod: lacking embellishment, lacking confirmation or support, unaided by device or instrument, devoid of concealment or covering

(definitions from Merriam-Webster.com)

One word is older than the other, and both have distinct origins. This should tip you off that though they mean basically the same thing, the connotation (added layer of meaning) is different for each one. There’s a vulnerability to naked – as though a naked person is lacking something – is deficient in some way. Whereas nude is more refined – leads me to think of art, of shedding the burden of a covering, nude is a choice, you’re au naturel. The history of the word is especially important to those writing any historical genres. Jamie Fraser from Outlander would never say something was “spic and span” but Claire might.

Connotation Adds To Character Voice

I’ve read many manuscripts that didn’t take these nuanced meanings into account when choosing a word. These nuanced meanings come into play with character voice as well. What word would your point of view character use based on their upbringing, past experiences, prejudices, etc.

Maybe your teenage point of view character would describe school as a concentration camp–that would show us a few things about how that character sees the world, right. I’ve had people say to me, “I feel naked with my …” fill in the blank. I feel naked without my wedding ring. What would that show readers about a character who said or thought that? Their identity is wrapped up in marriage somehow – who they’re married to, that they’re married, they feel vulnerable, etc.

In an intimate scene, a woman who sheds her clothing to stand nude before her man strikes me as natural, confident, alluring, unashamed. In that same scene, if the woman is naked there’s a raw sexuality to it, she’s lacking something she should have – she’s exposed. A nude woman gets up from the bed and walks to the bathroom unconcerned if she’s observed. A naked woman wraps the sheet around herself before walking to the bathroom.

These distinctions add layers and depth through subtext to readers, about how they feel, how they perceive things, their prejudices or experience.

Personal Associations Bring Connotation

While you can’t help the personal connotations a reader brings to your work, you should manipulate the connotation your characters bring to the story. If your character is a woman who was sexually abused as a child, she might not ever use the word nude, even when it’s appropriate.

Feminist is a word loaded with social connotation right now. Some see a person wearing that label as a left-wing zealot and others see them as couragous social warriors. Sometimes a word can be both things, so you’ll either need to explain how your character means it or choose a different word.

Connotation Can Be Negative Or Positive

Often, we turn to the thesaurus when we’re stumped for the right word and there’s nothing wrong with that. But be aware that words often carry connotation with them, and may not be as interchangeable as you’d like to think. We do this all the time as writers, we just need to do it consciously and strategically. Is your character thin or gaunt? It’s all in how you frame it.

Let’s look at a common word: seductive

The dictionary gives me these synonyms: attractive, captivating, charming, enticing, fascinating, flirtatous, inviting, irresistable, provacative, tempting, beguiling, bewitching, desireable, come-hither…

A woman who is attractive and charming is not necessarily provocative or flirtatous. Be sure of the connotation the word brings to your story and your character’s intentions and feelings.

4 Ways To Create Unique Character Voice That Work For Any Novel