Finding A Voice Through A Narrator
For many authors, the easiest way to fall into a voice is to write from the perspective of a specific character. If your narrator has a thick voice, then you simply need to be that person while you’re writing. But even in third person books, the text should reflect the setting of the story. For an extreme example, if you’re writing a regency romance, you’re not going to say about the male lead “He was super freaking hot.” It’s anachronistic and throws the reader right out of the book. Now, you could do this for effect, but that still shows an understanding of voice.
For a more subtle example, let’s look at two passages from the book Suttree by Cormac McCarthy. Love him or hate him, McCarthy used such a thick voice in his characters that his style was unmistakable. Suttree is set in the deep south in the early twentieth century. The voice of the book reflects this, but it changes from one speaker to the next, not only in dialogue, but even in the choice of words for the descriptions and even in the pacing.
The first piece is poor folks talking in a rough environment. The word choice reflects this well. If you haven’t read McCarthy, he ignores most punctuation rules, so the passage below is actually as it was published and the lack of punctuation is not a typo.
And what happens then?
When?
After you’re dead.
Don’t nothing happen. You’re dead.
You told me once you believed in God.
The old man waved his hand. Maybe, he said. I got no reason to think he believes in me. Oh I’d like to see him for a minute if I could.
What would you say to him?
Well, I think I’d just tell him. I’d say: Wait a minute. Wait just one minute before you start in on me. Before you say anything, there’s just one thing I’d like to know. And he’ll say: what’s that? And then I’m goin to ast him: What did you have me in that crapgame down there for anyway? I couldnt put any part of it together.
Suttree smiled. What do you think he’ll say?
The ragpicker spat and wiped his mouth. I dont believe he can answer it. I dont believe there is an answer.
The second passage begins with a lawyer speaking. The lawyer not only uses a very different tone, but Suttree has only three words in his own defense at the end of the scene, a marked contrast from the lawyer’s wordy response.
Mr. Suttree it is our understanding that at curfew rightly decreed by law and in that hour wherein night draws to its proper close and the new day commences and contrary to conduct befitting a person of your station you betook yourself to various low places within the shire of McAnally and there did squander several ensuing years in the company of thieves, derelicts, miscreants, pariahs, poltroons, spalpeens, curmudgeons, clotpolls, murderers, gamblers, bawds, whores, trulls, brigands, topers, tosspots, sots and archsots, lobcocks, smellsmocks, runagates, rakes, and other assorted and felonious debauchees.
I was drunk, cried Suttree.
The two passages show a different voice from each character, while still maintaining the book’s overall voice of the deep south of a century ago.
The Assignment
Now we’re going to have you write a simple scene with a few different narrators. But I want you to do a little work before you dive right in. Read the scene, and then go to the first description assignment. Make your choice about your narrator and then write down some things about them. Create a character with more depth than what we describe. Make them your own. What motivates them? What is their background? What kinds of words do they use? Do they have an accent? Write down a few things about how the character feels and what you can do in your writing to take your reader inside the head of this person. Do this with each of the three perspectives. After that, you can start writing the scenes.
Don’t be afraid to go wild with these exercises. Write in a voice so thick it’s absurd if you like, or write it so spare there’s barely any words on the page. It’s all great practice. And choosing people who are way out at the fringes of “normal” can be a great way to stretch your writing muscles.
The Scene
An old man sits on a porch in a rocking chair in a small town. There is a minor fender bender in front of his house and he gets up using his cane and goes over to make sure everyone is okay. One car is a local woman who is a single mom with two children and two jobs, doing her best to make ends meet. The other car is a man from the large city fifty miles away, just passing through. He is a wealthy lawyer on his way to a case, driving a BMW.
Perspective #1
Describe the scene and events in a few paragraphs from the old man’s perspective. It can be a grumpy old man who is annoyed by the whole thing, or a kindly old man who wants to help, or any kind of old man you think of. But making it someone far away from your realm of experience and with a strong perspective from upbringing, character, location, or any other trait will make the exercise more useful.
Perspective #2
Next, describe the scene from the perspective of the single mother. She could be a woman who works hard but doesn’t mind because she has her kids and they have each other and food on the table, or a harried single mother, bitter at her husband for leaving her and angry at the world for the predicament she is in. Like the old man, choose someone intersting, someone you can dig your writer’s teeth into.
Perspective #3
Finally, describe the scene from the perspective of the wealthy lawyer, maybe a city slicker who is annoyed to have to deal with the small town yokels and doesn’t have time for this, or a wise man who tries to help everyone he meets, either with his legal skills, or his brilliant deductive mind and significant resources. Make him completely different from the other two characters and let the text reflect that.
Complete this lesson, with the three different voices briefly describing what happened, before you go to the next lesson.