Screenwriting : Finding your character's voice by David Bryant

Consider the background of your characters. The likely scenario is your characters don't come from the same place. They probably weren't born or raised in the same place or at the same time, probably have different ethnic, economic, and familial backgrounds. They may have grown up as part of different generations. All of these things should influence how they speak and act. As a writer, you know you have to really put yourself in the mind of each character, and certainly some will be harder than others, but when you boil it down, that's what you have to do. That's my approach, at least. Continued good luck to you!

Hey, David, the "voice" of each character takes time to develop though - I don't think you need to find their voice before you write the script, I think after a while they become more and more fleshed out, so just write the first draft knowing they'll be a little vaguely drawn up in that first draft, but as you continue to work on the script, they will become more distinctive. Personally I don't outline the first draft, I pretty much just improvise their dialogue and go with it, and this leads to very "real" characters that I can see and hear and are like real people. Later I notice some inconsistencies and I fix those - OR I notice they have certain tendencies and I make more of a point of those. For example, in the script I'm writing now, the antagonist seems to always greet the protagonist by making an observation - he makes statements rather than asking questions, leaving it up to the protagonist to either respond to that or ignore it, so I went back and made sure he did that in another scene as well to make his character more specific. But that wasn't pre-decided by me, they just evolved into that over time.

Good advice above. One more small technical suggestion: When you rewrite, always do a pass reading dialogue of JUST ONE CHARACTER, from beginning to end. Then repeat for each character. Final Draft makes this easy... you can dump a report of one character's dialogue. That's a good way to verify that each character's voice is consistent throughout.

thanks guys, all great ideas. will certainly keep all these in mind as I continue writing!

Have you come up with a backstory for each character? In college, my scriptwriting professor had us do that BEFORE we even started on the script. She even had us list their favorite color or food. Most of the backstory probably won't show up in the final script, but it adds dimension and realism to the character. It gives them motivation for their actions, reasons behind aspects of their personalities, and shows how they would interact with their environment and people. It also helps differentiate your characters from each other. It could be a good writing exercise if you're stuck on story or dialogue. Maybe just take an hour, sit down, and crank out some backstories! I highly recommend it. :)

I do exactly what Kerry said: I do a mini rewrite for each character, making sure they sound consistent and have the same vocabulary and way of speaking and pet words and attitude throughout.

I do backstories and histories also, but I am a big people watcher. I love to observe people, and the way they behave in social situations. Sometimes these types of people become characters in my stories.

I'm a bit odd. For me, for days, or weeks, sometimes months I entertain thoughts centered around a message, and almost always, characters surface in mind. I can see them. I know their age bracket. I can see them in a certain car, etc. What I do have to do is jot down and associate an age, wife, job, location, etc. with each character. I mean, It's like the moral message of the story begins to unfold and before long, I am headed for the root of the story. I am bracing myself for the rejections in regard to pitching my pieces after critiquing such. LMAO !

In addition to what others have said, I'd like to point out that a diversity in your inner circle of real life friends can help you find the voice of each character.

Writing has been my passion and now my new friends are encouraging me to screenwrite for their projects. It is fun and an adventure. Our current project has me reliving 1973 in Germany following espionage and the Cold War! Lucky for me I was a Navy wife that year and have a good idea what was being discussed and what my characters would be like. It's like a time warp! It's so much fun.

Try to dig into your own past experiences. Pay attention to the points in your own life where you have reacted differently to different situations. Take those feelings that you had to first understand how that character may be feeling. If the character comes from a different background, deals with special circumstances, such as a debilitating illness or relationship, or if they come from a very specific time period or type of society, does he or she go against the norm? If this character doesn't go against the norm how would he or she react based on all of these circumstances in his or her life? If he or she does go against the norm, did people tend to rebel a certain way, whether it be during a time period or an mental condition or background and/or circumstances that makes him or her more vulnerable to acting a certain way?

@ David. Speaking for self, when I begin the process of putting my characters together, I have already seen my them in minds and have a CLEAR view of what their back grounds are, and with a clear vision of who my characters are and where they come from helps establish not only their dialogue, but dress code, what they drive if they drive LOL, their views about what ever, etc. Keep up your progress David.

Do a complete in-depth study of all your characters. Where they were born, who were their parents, what kind of mind do they have, what sign are they etc. I even sometimes do their entire lives so I know what influences and motivates my characters . None of this info may pertain to your story but it is very useful in making them real and you'd be surprised how it helps develop their voice.

You can choose education/accent/speech pattern differences, but I find the differences that really count are things the characters tend to focus on (or obsess about) and how they react to other people in the scene. Which comes out of their primary character traits - e.g. levels of humor, extraversion, fear.

Think about Idiolect, which covers things like how confident they are when they speak, any words or phrases they might use excessively, whether they speak using short sharp sentences that are straight to the point, or whether they ramble and take ages to say what they mean. It's not about accents and stuff, it's about the way they speak, it will come in part from their background, but will be driven more by their personality.

Watch the first 14 minutes of Drive. Ryan Gosling talks to a guy on the phone then hangs up and doesn't say a thing until like 12 minutes later when he's in the elevator and asks "What floor?" You already know so much about who this guy is it's ridiculous. Point being, don't just have your character exist in a vacuum. Give em personality, likes, dislikes, occupation etc. In terms of Drive, location is very important. What better place for a stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver for thieves than L.A.? Could that character really exist if you instead placed him say in the mountains of Alaska? Once you've fully created your character and know them inside and out, dialogue is really just the salt and pepper you sprinkle on your french fries.

Dialogue is more like the strawberry milkshake or the Big Mac special sauce than merely seasoning to me but hey... as an actor, I want cool shit to say. And lots of speeches lol.

David – you’ve gotten some pretty good (and not so good) feedback so far. I assume you’ve got your storyline pretty much tacked down. Remember that every character in your tale is there for a reason (even the cardboard and throwaways) and you should have worked up a character biography for each by now. As you write their dialog, speak that part out loud (I talk to my dog.) Pepper each character’s lines with echo words or phrases unique to him/her. Do a table read and listen carefully.

No problem, I always throw everything including the kitchen sink into my screenplay on the first draft. That's my dream script, then I face reality and get serious and cut, cut, rewrite and cut some more. However I think the best way to discover what to make changes to is have a reading first and let your actors make suggestions when needed. And listen for the hang ups, in your rewrites make all those corrections and then rinse and repeat until it flows in a logical direction that is soft and silky (sometimes I get carried away, but that's writing for you). After all that you should end up with a knock out script.

Character Bios. When I don't know what a character would say or do I go back to the bio and start delving into their past, looking for things to expand on. As the project moves forward the characters each grow more and more complex just by adding little details as you go. It makes the rewrite more smooth too because after the first draft you have lots more info on your characters than you did on day one.

Like all writer's I develop a bio for my characters. Another thing that helps me is I belong to a writer's group where I assign parts, give some minimal direction and the other writer's read the dialogue with their interpretation of the character. It really makes my characters and screenplays come to life. It is a bit of a slow process but I highly recommend it. I have now completed three screenplays and all three have been completely read aloud by my group. None of the other writers do screenplays, they are poets, novelists, non-fiction writers, etc. They all love it. There is a bit of actor in every creative person. Only a couple of them have done any real acting.

thanks guys for giving me such great input! It is definitely appreciated!

now i've found my own voice, but finding my characters voices can be harder. i have to keep reminding myself to make them more distinguishable. it often happens in the rewrite or edit.

Understand too that dialogue is much different than talk.

I believe it is the personality of each character that needs to come through. If you understand each character's needs, background, and psychological make up, the dialogue will reflect these traits almost automatically. A cold, disengaged character may say very little, for example, while a flighty, insecure character may talk incessantly. No matter the character, remember that people generally do not speak in complete sentences.

I find that going out into the streets and "looking" at people and observing what they "do and say" sheds a lot of ideas for characters and dialogue. As long as you can look and observe their conversations without them knowing it - or thinking you are staring. LOL

Remember that when a character enters a scene, he does so because he wants something and there needs to be another character that wants something else or wants to prevent your character from getting it. That’s called conflict, and that’s what your story is all about. (A character can be a him, her, or an it – animal, vegetable, weather… )

A funny exercise is to put your characters, all of them, on a speed date situation. Make them talk for two minutes, trying to show their point of view about something. Or simply make them try to impress their date. Time's up! Next! When put everything together you should have a distinctive voice for each of your characters.