Voices In My Head

My characters are quite as real to me as so-called real people; which is one reason why I'm not subject to what is known as lonliness. I have plenty of company.   —William S. Burroughs

This is for you writers out there. When you're working on a story, do the voices of your characters come at you when you least expect it? Or is it just me? I wonder if people with multiple personality "disorder" are that way because they don't have a creative outlet.

Sometimes I feel like a parent who's kids are arguing. All their voices are going at once so you pick one and say: "You! You tell me what's going on here. Everybody else, shut up!" Sure, it's not fair, but when are parents ever fair?--just kidding;)

So you pick a voice and they tell you their story--and there's the POV for your work. But, sometimes, you don't like that person's story for whatever reason so you go to another character and listen to them.

I was mobbed by voices this morning. And after they left me feeling spent and confused, I'd thought I'd share my experience with you, the lovely ERWA members.  —Z W 

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From Jodi
I thought I was odd because ever since I was a child, I have heard "voices" telling the stories. It's like the voices I hear when I read each character has his/her own individual tone, inflection, accent.

It's not like I make up a story; it's more like, a character comes to me and says, "This is what happened to me. Write this down." I also tend to write from the omniscient POV because I like having the different views of the same situation/actions.

From Gwen Masters
Voices? They aren't so much voices as they are moving and demanding forces, that make me sit down in front of a computer or pick up a pen and tell their story. Stories are never actually a product of thought for me...they are always a product of need. An idea takes hold, a voice comes along with it, the voice forms a person in my mind, a being that has their own thoughts and desires...and that person has to get out on paper or I simply cannot get a decent night's sleep. And I like to sleep, thanks.

It's a strange thing, to be driven by a voice like that. What writer hasn't sat down at a computer and a story just poured out like water from a pitcher, so fast that you damned your fingers for not typing fast enough, and then the next time you happened to look at the clock it was seven hours later and you hadn't even thought about making dinner?

Those are the stories that make it all worthwhile.

From Maren
It's nice to see that I am not the only one that 'hears' the voices of characters in my head. I've often compared it to schizophrenia. The voices! The voices! Just glad I am not the only one.

From Regina
Whenever I begin a story, it has to stew for a week or two for the first paragraph to even be written. However, when the first paragraphs are written and everything is going well, I feel an emotion akin to the emotion of the character I am concentrating on at the time.

In my current story, I am writing about a woman who is torn between a desire, no a need, to do something, and the societal standards and morality which hold her back. Right now, I can feel her anguish, and I can hear her begging me to help her story be written. I can hear her begging me to help her make a decision. Alas, the decision will be hers in the end, but the getting there should be fun. So yes, in a way, I guess I do hear the voices of my characters.

From Mike K.
The more I write, the more I hear the voices. If I create a quiet space they will come and talk to me.

For a long time I didn't write. I used to tell my stories aloud, making them up as I went along, mainly for kids (no erotica). That is a strange thing to do. You start off not knowing what you are going to say and how it will end but you have an audience in front of you who expect you to take them somewhere. The voices become your guide.

There's a thing in cognitive psychology called split attention tasks. People like news casters and air traffic controllers need to be good at them. The classic test is to have a text read into your headphones which you then read aloud to the tester who has the text written down. I always found this easy. Some people find it hard. Basically you need to store a paragraph or so in memory and continue to refresh it as you speak. Sometimes dialogue is like that. I just listen and write at the same time.

From The Gray Mouser
My characters/voices evolve in my head as the story gets told. When I scribble, I 'see' the story in progress very much like a movie in my head.

Most of my stuff is in third-person omniscient (I think), so I roll all of the various POVs into one which I use to write the story. Having all their different angles on a story also helps me with that description thing.

I'll have my voices call your voices and they can go do the 'lunch' thing. That'll free up some quiet time for us to do some writing!

From Sandaidh
Yes, character's voices, and personalities at times, come through while working on a story. I had one story which was "stuck" for almost a year because one of the main characters (a man, of course) absolutely refused to tell me his name. He finally gave in, and I can understand why he was so hesitant. LOL That story's still not finished.

Seriously, not only do I "hear" their voices, but at times feel like I "become" the characters. I hear what they hear, feel what they feel, see what they see, whatever. When that happens, it shows, the writing is more evocative, deeper, and says what it wants to say more clearly. It's a bit odd at times, wearing their shoes, but it's not near as strange as when a story comes from nowhere. Then I feel like a secretary taking dictation, just writing down what's told to me. Some of those have been my best.

As for people with MPD (multiple personality disorder - which is a real condition BTW), many of them are extremely creative.

Sometimes a story, or segment of one, can only be told from one POV. Sometimes it doesn't matter. Sometimes it's fun to see the same situation from two or more POVs (although that's usually a case where the writing and reading take longer than the actual event). Whatever works.

From Arina 
The characters in my stories are always made up from people that I already know, so when I sit to write a story, whoever's voice seems to stand out the strongest is the one I use.

I've been told I write dialogue well and I think that is because I have a very good memory when it comes to remembering what people say. I'm also pretty good at assessing people's personalities through feeling them.

That's feeling their feelings, not feeling their bodies, although that's not bad either...giggle. Anyway, because of this I'm able to compile what they might say or how they might react in whatever situation my story is putting them in.

Do those voices sometimes clutter my mind and make me scream, "You had your turn!" or "The next story will be about you, so be patient." Yes, often...I just try to make everyone happy by saying, "I'll get to you sooner or later, don't worry, I still love you." :-)

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