The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

voice

A Guide to Creating a Unique Character Voice

by

creating a unique character voice

Originally published Aug. 11, 2015 as “Can you recognize your character’s voice?” UPDATED June 3, 2024.

My last blog talked about point of view (POV), so it seems appropriate today to discuss creating a unique character voice for each of your book’s main characters.

Our voice is as much a part of who we are as is the shape of our face. It’s an aspect of our physical being that people come to recognize about us as they get to know us.

Just as we—as writers and as individuals—have a recognizable voice, the characters in our novels have voices, too. And they shouldn’t sound like you or like every other character in your novel.

Though the reader doesn’t hear voice in the usual sense, the reader can recognize it through the character’s personality, how he or she speaks, and the words that character uses. This is character voice and is as apparent in the narrative of your POV character as it is in the dialog of your characters.

[Read more…] about A Guide to Creating a Unique Character Voice

Has fear sabotaged your voice?

by

I’ve been reading an excellent blog series by Erin Buterbaugh found in the archives of Chip MacGregor’s blog. It’s about voice—something that seems to elude writers, beginning writers especially.

To quote Erin, voice is

“the personality of the author as revealed through the writing.”

When I first started writing with the intention of earning money for it, I read Finding Your Voice by Les Edgerton (btw Ane Mulligan recommends this book on a guest post she did for MacGregor’s blog). [Read more…] about Has fear sabotaged your voice?

Put an End to “I’ll Never Write Like That”

by

hand holding pen
Write, write, write, and you’ll find your unique voice.

I’ve been reading a wonderful book written by Lynn Austin titled Hidden Places.

More than once as I’ve read the gentle, lilting prose of this story I’ve said to myself “I wish I could write like this.”

I bet you’ve found yourself saying the same thing as you’ve read books that gripped you with the power of those well written words.

But this morning the very moment after I thought those words, God answered back. [Read more…] about Put an End to “I’ll Never Write Like That”