My 'Voice' problem

[Eric Hawke]

If your character's plain and straight forward, how about you make his voice even MORE plain? To the point were it's almost comical, and thus has more of a personality.
If he say, has been through a particularly challenging ordeal, instead of going on and on about his feelings, like some characters would do, he could simply think to himself "Well that will probably leave some emotional scars. Oh well..."

 

[Malik]

Big long post on voice, POV, and character voice at my blog, in my sig line. It might help. It might not.

Adult content warning: profanity, literary theory.

 

[Incanus]

Ah, I see this thread hasn't died out. Thanks for the additional thoughts here.

I've basically made a truce with this issue. My most recent draft is starting to blend in more and better character voice (confirmed by a hard-to-please critique partner!). It may not be the greatest ever, but it should be serviceable and fitting. It's mostly been about getting in some of the MC's opinions and observations, showing his unique outlook on various subjects.

Writing is a lot like dogpaddling.