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JACK ROBIN: Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin’ yet!

—The Jazz Singer (1927)

LESSON THREE:

Creating an Original Voice

I am reading a review of a red wine:

This blend of Merlot and Cabernet Frac… tastes of ripe black fruits (blackberry, black currant, boysenberry), with hints of vanilla, cocoa, and brown spices from the oak treatment.

The most interesting voices, like the most interesting wines, contain a mix of flavors. Good writers weave multiple facets into a character's speech. Each voice is a blend of personality traits and social habits. There are overtones and undertones; there are bold statements and subtle hints. All of these come together to create a multifaceted flavor.

The easiest way to come up with an original character voice is to be one of those writers who has such a good ear for dialogue and such a strong sense of character that the voices simply start talking in your head. You can hear them even before you start writing.

However, if you're one of us mere mortals, you are going to have to rely on the second easiest method of coming up with an original character voice. You are going to have to identify the particular mix of personality traits and social habits that define your character. Then you are going to have to create the sound of that mix in speech. How does a nervous person talk? How does a dictatorial person talk? How does a person who is both nervous and dictatorial talk?

Always remember that the most interesting voices and the best dialogue writing come with a blend of flavors. Characters who speak with only one tone and in only one dimension are flat, predictable, and stereotypical. The most powerful technique for adding interest to a character's voice is to add multiple dimensions to that voice.

LESSON 3: SCRIPT ANALYSIS EXERCISE

NOTE: In this exercise, beginning and intermediate writers should analyze published work by established authors. See the Appendix for a list of suggestions. Advanced writers have the option of bringing in their own work for analysis.

Have each writer bring in a two- to three-page dialogue scene from a play or screenplay. Make sure that everyone has the opportunity to read the scenes to themselves (not out loud) before the beginning of the discussion.

For Discussion:

1. What tones do you hear in each character's voice?

2. What do those tones tell you about each character in this scene?

3. Is the group in any disagreement about the tones? (For example, does one reader feel that a character is being sarcastic while another feels that a character is being sincere?) If so, what in the script has led to these different interpretations?

4. What lines, in particular, bring out the strongest or clearest tones?

5. What lines, in particular, seem to have multiple tones or dimensions?

6. Does the balance of tones in each character's voice ever shift? If so, when? Why?

7. Do any tones seem to be missing? For example, is there some bit of subtext or tension going on in the scene that does not seem to manifest itself in the dialogue?

LESSON 3: BEGINNER EXERCISE

This is a list of tones you might hear in a character's voice. Feel free to add to the list.

abrasive

alert

anxious

arrogant

bewildered

bitter

bored

bright

calm

cheerful

clumsy

commanding

creepy

cultured

decorous

defiant

deranged

detail-oriented

domineering

eager

erratic

excitable

exuberant

fanatical

fearful

fearless

flippant

frank

furtive

gentle

grouchy

guilty

hesitant

jittery

laid-back

lonely

meek

morose

naive

nervous

ominous

opinionated

optimistic

paranoid

pessimistic

precise

proud

reckless

reflective

romantic

sarcastic

sensitive

short-tempered

shrewd

squeamish

sullen

taciturn

vague

verbose

vulgar

weary

willful

wry

zany

1. Select one adjective from the list (or draw it out of a hat). Write a monologue with that tone (and only that tone) underlying it.

2. Select another adjective from the list (or draw it out of a hat). Rewrite the previous monologue so that both tones blend into it.

3. In writing the monologues, there is only one rule. The character is never allowed to explicitly tell us the underlying tone. It's cheating to write “I feel sullen,” or “I am detail-oriented.”

For Discussion:

1. Read the first monologue aloud to the group. Have the group guess which adjective was the underlying tone for the speech.

2. Why? What is it about the monologue that leads members of the group to select that adjective?

3. Does the writer ever cheat? Is there any point in the monologue where you feel the writer has explicitly told the audience what the underlying tone is supposed to be? If so, where? Could you cut that section out of the monologue and still have the monologue communicate the selected tone?

4. Have the writer reveal which tone word was behind the monologue. If the tone that the writer chose is different than the tone that the group believed it to be, discuss the difference in meaning between the two words. What are the variations in the shades of meaning? How do you recognize that subtle difference in speech?

5. Read the second monologue out loud to the group. Have the group guess which adjective was the second underlying tone for the speech.

6. How did the addition of the second tone change the monologue?

7. After everyone has presented their assignments, discuss which tone combinations made for the most interesting voices. Why were those combinations more effective?

LESSON 3: INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED EXERCISE

Look at the list of words in the Beginner Exercise. It is a list of tones you might hear in a character's voice. Feel free to add to the list.

Select four words from the list (or draw them out of a hat). Write a monologue that blends all four tones together into one character's voice.

For Discussion:

1. Read the monologue out loud to the group. Have the group guess which adjectives supplied the underlying tones to the speech.

2. Why? What is it about the monologue that leads members of the group to select those adjectives?

3. Have the writer reveal which adjectives were behind the monologue. If the words that the writer chose were different than the words that the group selected, try to identify which aspects of the monologue led to the differing opinions.

4. Discuss the balance of the tones in the monologue. Were some tones more dominant than others? What does the relative weight of all of the tones tell you about the character?

5. For the writer: Discuss how the four adjectives helped or hindered your monologue writing process. What choices did the adjectives force you to make? What limitations did they impose? In what ways was that helpful? In what ways was that frustrating?

LESSON 3: SOLO EXERCISE

There are distinctive voices all around you. They exist in the people you know, in the characters you see on screen or on stage, in the magazines or blogs that you read, and in the public figures you hear every day.

1. Seek out four distinctive voices in the social, political and cultural environment. Try to vary your sources. (Don't pick four voices exclusively from television, for example. Don't exclusively pick four sarcastic people.) Here's a sample list of voices:

• My husband (a person I know)

• Maxim (a magazine)

• Jerry Lundergaard (William H. Macy's character from the movie Fargo)

• Oprah Winfrey (a talk show host)

2. Once you have your list, write at least three adjectives that describe the tones underlying that voice. It's okay if your judgment is subjective. Here's a sample list:

• My husband (a person I know): intellectually driven; articulate; sarcastic

• Maxim (a magazine): cocky; adolescent; hipster

• Jerry Lundergaard (William H. Macy's character from the movie Fargo): dim-witted; desperate; chip on his shoulder

• Oprah Winfrey (a talk show host): earnest; matronly; charismatic

3. Now, remove the names and just look at the list of adjectives. Again, here is the sample:

adolescent

articulate

charismatic

chip on shoulder

cocky

desperate

dim-witted

earnest

hipster

intellectually driven

matronly

sarcastic

4. Randomly select three adjectives from your list and write an original monologue that blends those tones together into an original voice.

5. Repeat this exercise regularly as an ongoing writer's workout. Create a permanent file for each new voice that you develop. In the future, when you are developing characters for scenes and full-length scripts, you can refer back to these files for ideas and inspiration.