Character voice is the way our characters speak inwardly to themselves and outwardly to other people. Like with your own voice, it has degrees, modulations, and changes in pitch. How you talk to yourself is different and sometimes maybe even crueler than the way you’d talk to your best friend or a stranger in line at the library. It is the same with your characters.
But what makes a great character voice? It can’t just boil down to doing character interview sheets. If that were the case, crafting a voice like Dracula’s or every Sherlock Holmes iteration would be easy. Here are 15 exercises that task you with digging deeper to find your character’s voice.
1. Prop Improv
Writers have a lot to learn from improv actors and the art form itself. The creative and open headspace required for improv is like the space writers often get into when creating stories. It’s a space where you let yourself be free of judgment and creative shame and take on another person. This creative writing voice exercise is an improv activity where players are meant to pick a prop and develop a character from it that they then act out. For you as a writer, let’s mix it up a bit and instead go on a field trip to a thrift store. Browse the shelves and find one item that reminds you of the character whose voice you’re trying to find. If you can buy it, take it home and spend an hour building a backstory for
