Development - Importance of Character Voice in a Novel

30 March 2012, Development - Importance of Character Voice in a Novel

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little. I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel. Over the last year, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The steps in making and using a character in a novel are as follows:

1.  Development of the character
2.  Revelation of the character
      a.  Description of the character - introduction 
      b.  Voice of the character

I've been writing about character voice and revelation of a character in a novel.  I've tried to show you how important character voice is.  I made the list above to illustrate the basic steps in developing and revealing a character.  Remember, I made the point that a character doesn't really develop in a novel.  What we call development is really revelation.  The character was already developed (we hope) by the author.  What we call development is where the author shows us the character--the entire novel is really about this revelation.  The success or failure of the author begins and ends with character revelation.  This is how important the concept is. 

In the discussion, I showed some ways to develop and use character voice.  I also showed when the voice should change, and I gave examples of how to change character voice properly.  The point is to change the voice without making the character become something so different they can't be properly recognized in the framework of the plot. 

I also discussed how the main character might and should change within the framework of a novel.  I don't like to use the term character development here either, but this idea is more akin to what a writer means when they talk about character development. 

I'll write more about character voice in terms of scenes in a novel.  We'll start tomorrow.

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.