: Re: Writing exercises to practice the art of giving unique voice to characters? I've read many blogs which teach you how to give a unique voice to each of your characters. I feel I understand

@Steve161

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One exercise would be to write a dialogue with characters from very different backgrounds. e.g. A poor French teenager, an old rich English man and a small town Texan housewife stranded in a train station waiting room. Besides their accents, try to capture expressions and attitudes appropriate for each character. For example the Texan might be very polite and indirect, as she comes from a small town. I guess I am saying think about how the character's age, sex, height, attractiveness, wealth, background, history and location could affect their way of speaking and how they would say it. Vary each of these things and write something from that perspective.

Another exercise could be to write a diary from a character's point of view to go alongside your story. The diary would be written directly in the character's voice - explaining what is happening in the story from their point of view and in their own language and voice.

A good example of these exercises is No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, where monologue chapters keep re-occurring in the book. These monologues are from Sheriff Bell, a Texan country sheriff getting near retirement. Bell uses expressions that I have never heard before, but also makes you feel how old he is, his regrets and his fears through the character's focus on how things used to be and his own failings. His voice is sad, tired, old, defeated.

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