Episode 014: How to Write Distinctive Character Voice

One of your greatest fears as a writer: that all your characters' voices will end up sounding EXACTLY THE SAME. How do you avoid this? How do you "slip into" a new voice for each character, a distinctive voice that STANDS OUT – not just in your story, but in the world of stories already out there. That's the topic authors Kate and Abbie tackle in this podcast. Drawing on years of experience and millions of words written, Kate and Abbie share their favorite tips for writing unique character voice and crafting a story that your readers won't soon forget.

Like this episode? Give us a thumbs up and tell us what you thought.

[Faith-Trust-Pixie-Dust]

The comic sans trick works!! I didn't even believe it but tried it and I wrote over 50, 000 words in like a month! It's amazing!!

[ThisIsNotAHairOnYourScreen]

This is why Jane Austin is such an amazing writer she managed to make every character in her book have such a distinct voice that it could eve be considered a completely separate voice to her own.

[amickle]

This helped me so much on character voice! Thank you!❤

[yitzledee]

A few anecdotes from the comic book world:
In Batman Year One, it has 2 perspectives that narrate, Batman and Jim Gordon.
Batman's narration squares are in a typewriter style font on white and Jim Gordon's is handwritten on a lined background. It tells a lot about both characters.
The Font "Comic Sans MS" was based on the comic Watchmen, one of the most serious superhero comics.

[JtRiddell]

Yes!
Please!
The psychology of writing in different fonts sounds fun and intriguing!

[angelacorrea]

I learned all my basic character voice skills writing fanfiction... It is a great start point, specially when you're younger

[lillydevil]

Each time I find a new cache of writing advise, I'm usually like 'Oh, they're just going to go over the same stuff with different flavor text', but sometimes I find stuff no one else is really talking about.

This and 'Narrative Distance' is something I rarely hear discussed among writers on yt XD

[ClefairyFairySnowflake]

Do the video idea where you write in comic sans for 30 days to see how it affects your writing! That would be a fun video to make! Thank you for the writing tips for character voice! They were super helpful! Keep up the amazing work! Stay awesome!

[pastureexpectationsfarm]

Love the ampersand reference to (I'm begging the universe) "A Bit of Fry & Laurie"

[taylorduarte]

Music is a big help!
I listen to instrumentals when I write!! Because words/tv are often distracting. So I have a "writing" playlist going for my current WIP.

[liamurati]

I absolutely go with character playlist! It works SO WELL with me! Thanks ladies loved that episode!

[nurianetoibanez]

You both are marvelous: One is an accurate good comunicator, the other is empathetic and emotional. ¡Well done sisters! I'm in love.. You made it! :D

[thesamuraiman]

I always worry about this. Glad you're covering the topic.

[margobarrett]

great video tho so helpful😉😃😁❤❤❤❤❤❤ Oh yeah and the font thing with me too it helps me!!! U guys made me laugh about the comic sans thing LOL!!!! XD yes yes yes make a video of the comic sans Also my character in my trilogy is a slave so he sees things in a dark way, but he is sarcastic and cunning despite the fact that his masters freak out about being disrespectful lol.

[heathermelling]

Yes! COMIC SANS VIDEO YEYEH *Palpatine voice* DEW IT.... Also, you guys are so fun to listen to. I am not a writer although I used to dabble in it in highschool for fun and am considering writing again for fun after listening to your podcasts and videos, but atm I listen to you while illustrating/designing for clients& doing school projects! It's amazing how much story carries over into other creative industries. Really love hearing both of your opinions on so many topics and how you break down story :) big fan

[ailsa]

I've heard that reading Jane Austen is a master class in character voice, because all her characters (even the minor ones) have their own distinctive talking styles.
I also read a book once where the main character spent a lot of time (not just in dialogue, but in her head) talking about her dad who had disappeared. That worked well because she admired her dad a lot, and she wanted to find him, so it made sense for her to bring up lots of stories about him that revealed something about what she admired in him.
I'm so taking the character voice sheets idea, and the different fonts, and maybe even the idea of writing in comic sans.

[lovelearn-itsastorynotasu]

OMG!! I needed that font tip (and the music tip and the personality type tip and
One thing I need to ask though.
One of my MCs is a tree. (sue me) So how would this character make decisions and do other things if she can't PHYSICALLY go anywhere? (Mentally is a whole other thing) With Abie's three-act story structure template, I'm having some trouble with this character.

*My inner voice*: Of course SOmaya... you are writing about a fictional TREE story for crying out loud

Anyways...Thanks! Your videos have really helped me!

[lorrainelagrosasubosa]

I've been struggling with character voice. Thank you for this.

[reyofsunshine]

Thanks so so much for answering my question !! 🥰🎉

[hannahelliegrace]

Thanks for the super helpful tips, guys!