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Q&A avoiding making all your characters sound the same

Spend more time with your character outside the book. Have you ever seen those email questionnaires which go around occasionally? What's your favorite toothpaste, Coke or Pepsi, Beatles or Stones...

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:13Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/6967
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:39:22Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/6967
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T02:39:22Z (almost 5 years ago)
Spend more time with your character outside the book.

- Have you ever seen those email questionnaires which go around occasionally? What's your favorite toothpaste, Coke or Pepsi, Beatles or Stones, ever been to Africa, what's under your bed, etc.? Get one of those, blank it out, and answer it _from the perspective of your character._ 
- Cast your character. That is, in the movie, is your college professor played by Morgan Freeman, Nathan Lane, Queen Latifah, Benedict Cumberbatch, or Judi Dench? Imagine the person talking. Really hear the voice.
- Write a letter to the editor from your character about something which the character is passionate about: global warming, gun control, abortion, dangling participles.
- Write an email/letter from your character to his or her best friend. Mother. Spouse. Send the character on vacation and write a whole email exchange.
- Nice bit of advice I saw somewhere: what does the character do in a quarrel?

Once you've spent some time establishing the person beyond his or her place in the plot, it will be easier to write in that voice. You may well have to go back multiple times for multiple people, and you may have to tell your beta readers and editors "Make sure my characters don't all sound the same."

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2013-01-02T18:55:37Z (almost 12 years ago)
Original score: 14