This Writing Skill is Voice Trait, a lovely way to play with character voice. A character's voice comes from a wide range of things: their age, dialect, education, class, region, personality, etc. It's often easiest to go for the extremes – the "eeh bah gum, t'were a reet mess" or "I say, old chap, that's frightfully out of line", but that can also end up creating caricatures, rather than characters. Also, people of the same age / dialect / education / class / region still have their own distinct voices. So for this skill, we're going to focus purely on character traits. I suggest that for the other voice indicators (age / dialect / education / class / region) you stick to your own, or to the set you're most familiar with, so you can really concentrate on how their personality traits shape their voice.
For personality traits, grab the first choice from this handy rangen. You can use all three, or whichever feels most useful to you. I got "manipulative, inspirational and industrious". I think I could have a lot of fun with "inspirational" – which I'm reading in the sense of those endless online inspo memes, so my interpretation's probably quite influenced by the word "manipulative" as well!
Then for what to write about, we're going to keep this as plain as possible, so you can really concentrate on the voice itself. The character is explaining, in detail, one of these three things:
- how to make a cup of tea
- how to change a tyre
- how to sew on a button
Choose whichever suits you best. I can already hear my character exclaiming "You've got this!" and "There are no mistakes, only opportunities to learn!" and "I like to imagine there's a sunset seascape behind my words, it gives me a lot more confidence to really own my truth." (Oops, I think I just punched them.)
Want more Writing Skills? As a member of The Writers' Greenhouse Community, you'll get a new Writing Skill every week: quick fun activities to develop your writing across plot, character, description, style, genres, and poems.
Plus you'll get expert advice on tap, a friendly supportive writing community, and help sending your writing out.
