6 Exercises to Find Your Character's Voice

Posted by Jess

Each scenario is built to reveal different aspects of a personality. Some of these may not be relevant to the world of your story, so by all means tweak them to fit into the world you’ve created. Grab a notebook, a pencil, and get ready to jump into the heads of your characters!

Scenario #1: Dealing with a bully.

Have your character react to being bullied, or perhaps he or she is the one doing the bullying, maybe they’re witnessing someone else being bullied, or it’s possible that they don’t even notice the incident or care. Would this character interfere? Turn a blind eye? Egg it on? Would they stand up for themselves? Fight back? Laugh and walk away?

This reveals how the character deals with confrontation and conflict. It uncovers their values, their confidence level, whether they’re a leader, a follower, or blind to the plight of others. It also shows how others view this character. However, more importantly, it reveals how strong the character is mentally. A character's mental state dictates what they say out loud.

Scenario #2: Getting Pulled over by the police for speeding.

How your character(s) react(s) when they see the flashing lights… as they park on the side of the road while glancing in the rearview mirror… how they speak to the officer. Do they fix their hair in the mirror first, tap their fingers on the steering wheel, wipe their hands on their jeans, curse, check out the officer as he’s approaching the car?

All of this reveals how the character views, and reacts, to authoritative figures. Every story has some form of authority whether it is a boss, a parent, a tyrannical government. Tweak this by using the authoritative force in your story. For instance, if this were the Hunger Games you could use President Snow. This is a good way to find out what your character thinks vs. what he or she actually does. It also reveals how much power they think they have vs. how much they actually have.

 Scenario #3: A stranger tells them they're cute.

A confident character may respond with ease, flirt back, seal the deal, or perhaps not respond at all if they're overly confident. A self-conscious character might try to justify the compliment or question it: "She didn’t really mean that" OR "He’s only talking to me because no one else asked me to dance" OR "It’s only because Macy put makeup on me." Maybe the character will start babbling, telling awkward jokes, or reveal some other quirk that’s lurking inside them. Your job is to find that quirk!

This exercise reveals a character’s confidence level, but mostly it reveals how the character views and feels about him or herself. And that is where the juicy stuff is!

Scenario #4: Have one character write a letter to another.

Have your character write a letter to their best friend in the story explaining what’s happening to him or her [in this point of the story]. OR you can have the character write a letter to the antagonist, or a love interest, or a parent.

This especially helps me when I have writer’s block because it allows the character to speak freely. It reveals how the character feels about their current situation, as well as their level of comfort with the character to which they are writing. Notice how their diction changes depending on whom they're addressing.

Scenario #5: Shopping in a department store, grocery store, or whatever kind of store your story’s world would have.

Your character can be shopping alone, or with a group of friends. What do they buy, where do they go, what type of items do they window shop for? Maybe they hate shopping and they’re pissed that they’re at the mall. Maybe they run into another character while they’re there. Just roll with it, and see what happens.

This reveals how your character acts in public, how they view the public, how they view the ideals of the society in which they live. Something that comes to mind is a scene from the movie Fight Club (my absolute favorite movie! I literally watch it at least twice a month!) In the scene, Brad Pitt and Ed Norton are standing on a bus. Norton looks at a Gucci ad and says, “Is that what a man looks like?” Pitt laughs. A few beats later a stranger bumps into Pitt and both characters size up the stranger. These are the types of situations you should put your characters in for this exercise. Have them glance at the ads in the store, the other people walking around, the actual products. Think of all of the times you’ve gone shopping. Now put your characters into those memories.

Scenario #6: Two characters have dinner together.

It could be in a restaurant, at a bar, a taco truck, or a home cooked meal. If these characters wouldn’t normally have dinner together and they are out of their element, express that! Show it! Let them be awkward with each other. See how they behave when they’re out of their comfort zone. Or perhaps the characters click and form a bond that you didn’t see coming. Like I said before, just roll with it and see what happens.

Start off with just two characters at a time, and then when you feel more comfortable with their personalities, add more guests.

This exercise isn’t about creating scenes for your story, it’s about revealing how your characters feel about each other, how they express those feelings, and more importantly, how they speak to each other. (That is what we're looking for!)

Your options are endless with this type of development because you can literally throw your characters into any type of situation. As your character weaves through each scenario you'll start to see patterns in their speech, their actions, and their thoughts. I like to highlight these patterns when I reread what I wrote. I also highlight random dialogue and actions that ring true as I'm writing. It may take your characters a bit to warm up, but you'll definitely leave each scenario learning something about them.

Keep in mind, the scenarios you use should be basic. They should be ordinary, every day situations because it's a lot easier to pinpoint characteristics when there's not an overload of emotions involved. Once you pinpoint your character’s quirks, thoughts, reasoning, and view of him/herself and their world, then it will be much easier to amp up those traits when say their best friend is killed in battle or they’re caught by the enemy or when they're interacting with their love interest. Uncover the basics then amp it up for your story. As I’ve said time and time again, just roll with it and see what happens!

If there's an exercise that you use to find your character's voice let me know in the comments below! I'm always looking for techniques to add to my tool belt. Hope this post helped!

Until next time,

☮❤=)
Jess

Breathing Life into a Character

Posted by Jess

In order for the reader to believe your character is real, the character must first be real to you.

This is something that I was struggling with when I started writing my book. I knew what my characters looked like. I knew all of their motives, desires, their backgrounds, but I was having a hard time finding their voice, especially when it came to my main character, who happens to be the narrator. You can see how this was a huge problem. Every day, I read article after article about character development, but no matter how much I learned, I still couldn't find my main character's voice (her name is Kits). I knew everything about her, yet I felt as if I knew nothing at all. She wasn't real to me, she was just a two dimensional character.

Then one day it hit me: What's the best way to really get to know someone? You become their friend. The answer was that simple. I know how to make friends, I thought, I do it all the time. So, I set out to become best friends with the main character of my book. And it turned out to be much harder than I thought. Mostly because I felt silly talking to an invisible person, even if I wasn't speaking out loud. Eventually, I got over it. I came to revel in the silliness of it all, and now Kits is a living and breathing person within my story.

So how did I do this? Well, here's how my process usually goes. First I imagine what she looks like. Her hair, skin, eyes, nose and mouth. Is she wearing jeans and a tank top, or is she in a dress? (Of course it's not a dress. She only has one dress and she hates it.) Once I have the image of her in my thoughts, I say: "Hey Kits?"
"Yea Jess." Is how she usually responds.
"Can you tell me your story?" I ask. Or sometimes I say, "What do you want to talk about today?" Or "Let's talk about Nate," or some other character in the book. Then I wait, and I wait, until she finally answers. Sometimes I have to coax her with a different question, but if you're patient, your character will eventually answer you.

Sometimes I take her around with me. I show her places, and we talk. Obviously not out loud. Don't quote me, but people will probably think you're crazy if you walk around talking to someone that only you can see, even though you know you're just talking to the star of your new book. (Well technically it's their book because it's their story. They're just using us to write it. Kits and I talk about this sometimes, she never wants to give me any credit.)

Anyways, when I was first getting to know her, I just walked around with her in my head all day. I sat her character development notebook in the passenger seat of my car and pretended that she was riding next to me. This is what happened the first day I tried this:

 

First we went to Smoothie King. I usually get the same thing (a strawberry shredder or a chocolate lean one), but today I decided to let her choose. A couple walked into the store behind me, but I let them order first. I read each description on the large wall of options, while asking Kits if any of them sounded good to her, however, I couldn't get a feel of what she wanted. Or perhaps she's just as indecisive as I am. The couple orders, and I briefly tune into their conversation with the guy behind the register.

"Are you two sisters?" he says.

They laugh. "No, this is my wife."

"Oh! I just thought, because you look a lot alike," he says quickly.

The women laugh. 

"I'll take it," one says. "It's better than what we usually get. Most people ask if I'm her mother."

I grin as they all laugh. The couple takes a seat and now it's my time to order. Only, Kits hasn't decided yet. And if she has, then she didn't tell me, or perhaps I wasn't listening. 

"You look so confused," says the guy behind the register.

I glance at him and then laugh. "Yea, I'm having a hard time choosing."

"Maybe I can help. What kind of taste are you looking for?"

"The gladiator is always a good choice!" says one of the ladies from the table.  

"Yea, I love the gladiators." I turn to them with a smile. Then I decide to fill them in on my process.

"I usually get the same thing, but I'm writing a book and I'm trying to get to know my character, so I decided to choose one that she would get. But, I'm having a hard time figuring that out."

"Oh wow," says one of the ladies.

"That's cool," said the other.

"Well, tell me about this character," says the guy behind the register. I later found out that his name was Tim. 

I give him, and the ladies, a brief description of Kits' story.... which she later told me I completely butchered. 

"Definitely the Strawberry Lemon Twist!" One lady says as soon as I finish speaking.

"Yea, that or the angel food," says her wife.

I look at both choices, and the strawberry lemon twist seems to stand out, so I ask Kits if that's the one she wants. I couldn't really hear what she was saying because I was still getting used to having her in my head, but it felt right so I ordered it.
The lady gives me a thumbs up and I smile. 

I then chat with Tim as he makes Kits' smoothie. "I would love to read your book when you're done," he says.
I always get excited when strangers are eager to read my story even though it's not even finished.
I learned that Tim's passion is music, "But I just realized I have the gift of teaching," he says. He told me that he wanted to write a book about love based off of teachings from the bible. He asked me if I would be interested in coauthoring it with him. 

I bashfully laughed and said, "Oh, I'm not that good yet." I wanted to tell him that I was struggling to get the words out of my own story and that most of what I wrote was a mess, and that my book was about assassins, so I'm not sure I'm person he wants to help.

"I'm sure you're better than you think," he says.

He asked me for some advice on writing and this is what I told him:

"Just write it down. What ever scene, thought, lesson or idea comes into your head, write it. It doesn't have to be eloquent, just make sure you get it all down. Most of my notes sound like an illiterate child wrote it." I'm exaggerating, kind of. He laughed. 

"The point is to get the ideas down. Then go back later and rewrite them how you would actually say it. Eventually all of your notes will start connecting and forming your story."

Anyways, when it was time to pay my bill, I tried to hand him my debit card, but he wouldn't take it. He watched the front door open and close as the couple left. His eyes then set on mine and he smiled. "Those ladies just paid for your drink."

My lips spread into the biggest smile, and I could feel Kits smiling too. Wow. That was so nice of them. I left a tip in the jar, and then Kits and I made our way out. 

She loved the smoothie by the way. It was a little too sweet for me, but once I broke through to her I realized what she really liked was the tartness of the lemon, which mellowed out the sweetness. I drank the entire thing. When we got to Barnes and Nobel, I didn't even make it inside because Kits had begun telling me her story. I could see it through her eyes and feel what she felt. I wrote in the car for hours. 

Check out the post below to find out what happened while I was writing in the Barnes and Nobel parking lot.... it was so random!

Also, let me know in the comments what techniques you use for breathing life into your characters. 

Until next time,

☮❤=)
Jess