Sunday, April 6, 2014

Tone of Voice

Your tone of voice can convey so much; for instance a soft voice can show sweetness or even timidity, a strong confident voice can show strength, a loud voice may show anger and a deep voice can sound gruff.

Author's need to use all kinds of voices for their characters, or they'll sound alike.  We have to differentiate our characters from one another and this requires giving each one of them personality traits.  Their tone of voice is just one portion of developing our character, but a very important part. 

Many of us know or have met someone with a deep voice who sounds gruff.  They can be abrupt to the point of rudeness, but the ones I've known have had hearts of gold.  You probably know people who talk so softly you have to ask them to repeat (sometimes people talk fast, and you have to ask them to repeat) themselves.  I have them in my family, and one of them thinks you should listen so you can hear her.  lol

People who have a strong even tone are confident; they enunciate clearly and no one has a problem hearing and understanding them.  There are people who speak loud, and it can be because they are angry, but it can be they are hard of hearing, or just their natural tone of voice. 

All of these things are great to use for your characters and should be worked into their personalities when you develop their profiles. 

Thank you for reading.  Have a great week, and I'll see you next Sunday. 

Sandra K. Marshall, Author @
Eirelander Publishing
http://www.eirelander-publishing.com
http://www.skaymarshall.com

7 comments:

Rose Anderson said...

Nice post, Sandy. I always hear my characters inflection and accents. lol What does that say about me? I hear voices...

J Hali Steele said...

Hi Sandy, you're spot on with this, voice is an integral part of a story. Have an awesome week. PS - are you getting out on the bike?

K.T. Bishop said...

I always try to make my characters opposite of each other....

Melissa Keir said...

I love using dialects with my writing to make the characters come alive. Tone is so much harder to convey in writing. Think about how emails and texts can be misunderstood. Authors have to be very conscientious of tone in their writing.

Sandy said...

LOL Okay,Rose, you hear voices, and I hum.

J. Hali, thanks for stopping by. No, we didn't get out on the bike this weekend, but one day next week when it's warmer we will.

Well, K.T., that certainly helps since opposites attract.

Melissa, we have to be aware of tone. I had a killer in Addiction who when really crazy spoke in a high pitched tone.

Kari Rogers Miller said...

Sandy, tones are important and we all have been on the receiving end of someone's tone.

My kids don't care what I say, but how I say it. ;(

Sandy said...

Kari, I think people just don't realize how the sound of their tone of voice can hurt others.