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It is widely touted that anyone who is in the habit of hearing strange voices in their head has some sort of problem which they need to have addressed! As we shall hopefully see, however, this occurrence is not always undesirable and is in fact a major part of particularly the fiction writer's craft if they are to create authentic and believable characters and successfully incorporate same within their work.

Whenever a writer comes up with ideas for characters, it is advisable that they take the time to fully develop said characters prior to so much as contemplating writing about them in narrative form. This is a process of several stages and is virtually essential in order to not only create sufficient personal material for the characters which to include in the story but to give the characters their own specific identities and, through same, the wider credibility which they are likely to require if they are to add value and authenticity to the overall piece.

The first step for the writer when developing a newly created character is to give them some identifying personal qualities. This will cover everything from a physical description, to an occupation, to hobbies, to perhaps individual quirks such as speech impediments or curious ways of gesticulating with their hands as they speak. All of these factors contribute to not only making the character an individual but to giving them credibility in the eyes of the reader. This is essential if we are to avoid the characters appearing wooden and stereotypical. Such characters can easily spoil an otherwise well written novel or short story.

When we have taken the trouble to devise all of the above for our characters, the next step is to picture them in our mind's eye. We have to actually be capable of seeing them as we wish our readers to do so. We have to watch them move, how they interact with other characters within the story and even how they would be inclined to react in any given situation on the basis of the persona we have created for them.

Finally, we have to be able to hear our characters speak. What sort of accent would they have? Are they likely to have perhaps an annoying intonation which will grate on the consciousness of other characters within our work? Is anger often reflected in their speech; hatred, jealousy? By hearing our characters in this way we can gain further insight to the fictional entities we have created and assist ourselves in better incorporating them to the desired effect.

Developing distinct voices for our characters will be of particular benefit when we come to including direct speech in the text of our story. If we can hear our characters say the words, it will prove far easier to put those words down on paper in the correct order and help our readers to relate to the characters in the overall fashion we desire.

Learn more about this author, Gordon Hamilton.
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