Two Voices

The two voices in writing belong to the author and their characters. An author with a distinct voice is recognizable across their many works. This may manifest thematically, stylistically, or in their tone. Conversely, the voice of characters the author creates will reveal their personality through word choice, attitude, and emotion.  

Author Voice

You pick up a book. The author’s voice jumps out at you. Perhaps they always write about the environment. Or their stories always explore relationships. Maybe every story or essay has a political bent. Themes play an oversized role in an author’s voice. Another marker of author voice is their writing style. Do they use flowery descriptive language or are they stingy with their words, using the bare minimum to get their point across? Some authors insert humor, others approach each subject with deadly seriousness. Theme, style, and tone combine to create an author’s voice.

Character Voice

Character voice, on the other hand, is all about personality. Each character in a book or story should have their own unique voice. How do you do that? Think about your character’s hobbies, profession, and tastes in music, books, and movies. Make sure their vocabulary reflects these as well as culture and other aspects of their life. If they are the impulsive type have them speak in sentence fragments. Science-minded characters may speak in complete sentences replete with multisyllabic words.

How old are they? Do they adopt the latest slang or are they more traditional? Do they speak in dialect? What shaped their worldview and values? How do they feel about their fellow characters, their life situation, their present dilemma? Throw all of that information together to show their attitude through word choice and action. Give them a verbal tic, y’know? Are they funny? Serious? Allow the emotions of some characters to show on the page, while you suppress the emotions of others. Just as no two people are truly alike, no two characters should have the same voice.

Two Voices

Voice has many meanings. I hope this post helped you understand the difference between author voice and character voice. Now stop reading and write something!