The Voice, Part 2: Speaking as a Character from Another Time
In the previous two posts I explained that I craft an historical novel employing three overlapping spheres of awareness: the World of the novel, the novel's narrative Voice and the voices of its primary characters, and the critical Event in the novel that provides a kind of engine for plot. In Voice Part 1, I spoke to the writer's choice of a narrative voice: how the writer chooses to narrate the story to readers. In this second post, I want to share some things I've learned about crafting the all-important voice of your protagonist as well as other major characters.
Character voice is a tricky component of historical fiction: if you get it right, most readers won't notice, because they'll be caught up in the world you've created and the voice/person with whom they've formed a relationship. But if you get it wrong, the discordant notes in that voice will bounce the reader right out of his/her suspension of disbelief, and this will cause the reader to question the larger reality of the novel. Here are my tools for crafting an authentic character voice: read, listen, and record.
READ. Be prepared to research your character's world exhaustively, and above all, immerse yourself in primary documents -- those diaries, letters, memoirs, old newspaper articles, death notices, etc. written by people who existed in the same time and place as your character(s), and are often housed in private or government archives and libraries. These primary sources not only provide a wealth of detail, but they contain vocabulary, syntax and turns-of-phrase that distinguish your period of time in your particular place.
Here, for instance, is a letter written by a mill worker to the governor of his state: "...we are just as good as the most of these fellows that runs around here with there standing collars on and don't know what a day's work is." Do you see? The voice jumps out at you, displaying attitudes, level of education, class resentment, and more. It's authentic.
LISTEN & RECORD. Always be listening to people talk to one another, or be engaging people in conversation. I hear things standing in line at my small-town post office. I hear unique metaphors and figures of speech from neighbors who have lived in the area all their lives. I always carry a small notebook and pencil with me, no matter where I'm going, and I write everything down that strikes me as significant. Honest. Surprising. A friend who has spent forty years working in a textile mill, saying of something that got him very vexed: "That tore me out of my frame." A student I coached, trying to get him to see that he needed to work harder, telling me that he hears it all the time from his father: "Don't worry about the mule, just load the wagon." The man in the diner who said: "I may do such." The woman who said she had "beaucoups of daffodils." When you hear something that has the ring of truth to it, that evokes a place or people, write it down. You will come to use these voices; they will lend authenticity to your fictional ones.
Next post: The Event
Character voice is a tricky component of historical fiction: if you get it right, most readers won't notice, because they'll be caught up in the world you've created and the voice/person with whom they've formed a relationship. But if you get it wrong, the discordant notes in that voice will bounce the reader right out of his/her suspension of disbelief, and this will cause the reader to question the larger reality of the novel. Here are my tools for crafting an authentic character voice: read, listen, and record.
READ. Be prepared to research your character's world exhaustively, and above all, immerse yourself in primary documents -- those diaries, letters, memoirs, old newspaper articles, death notices, etc. written by people who existed in the same time and place as your character(s), and are often housed in private or government archives and libraries. These primary sources not only provide a wealth of detail, but they contain vocabulary, syntax and turns-of-phrase that distinguish your period of time in your particular place.
Here, for instance, is a letter written by a mill worker to the governor of his state: "...we are just as good as the most of these fellows that runs around here with there standing collars on and don't know what a day's work is." Do you see? The voice jumps out at you, displaying attitudes, level of education, class resentment, and more. It's authentic.
LISTEN & RECORD. Always be listening to people talk to one another, or be engaging people in conversation. I hear things standing in line at my small-town post office. I hear unique metaphors and figures of speech from neighbors who have lived in the area all their lives. I always carry a small notebook and pencil with me, no matter where I'm going, and I write everything down that strikes me as significant. Honest. Surprising. A friend who has spent forty years working in a textile mill, saying of something that got him very vexed: "That tore me out of my frame." A student I coached, trying to get him to see that he needed to work harder, telling me that he hears it all the time from his father: "Don't worry about the mule, just load the wagon." The man in the diner who said: "I may do such." The woman who said she had "beaucoups of daffodils." When you hear something that has the ring of truth to it, that evokes a place or people, write it down. You will come to use these voices; they will lend authenticity to your fictional ones.
Next post: The Event
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