In Their Own Words: Finding Your Character's Voice

[nlitherl]

One of the hardest parts of roleplaying for some people is figuring out exactly what their characters have to say, and how to best say it. Improved Initiative, always interested in keeping you on top of your game, presents a simple list for how to figure out your character's personal voice. For those who want to put in a performance that won't soon be forgot, chewck out some of these tips and tricks.

In Their Own Words

[Talyn]

I love that you linked to Amy Walker's "21 Accents" video - it's one of my favorites.

I have personally found that tone is more important than an accent. Filling your voice with contempt, or eager anticipation, or boredom, is a way to make you character instantly memorable. Plus it's easier to do than an accent - I know that I, personally, can't keep an accent up for more than a sentence or two before it transforms into some sort of mangled quasi-Irish accent. Seriously - Russian, Scottish, German, Spanish, Canadian, all turn into Irish by halfway through the 3rd sentence.

(My natural accent is pure suburban New England, so beats the hell out of me as to WHY it turns Irish, but it does.)

[Remmirath]

Good advice.

I agree that tone is more important than accent. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the accent is the least important -- it can help if you're good at it, but all of the other things listed are markers of the character's personality, whereas the accent is just a demonstration of where they're from. I suppose my insistence on this point may have something to do with the fact that I am poor at accents, but I think it's the case. I would also argue that a bad accent is a good deal worse than no accent, because it'll be distracting.

Speaking in different voices for my characters has always come rather easily to me, perhaps because I've been acting for about as long as I've been roleplaying, and both involve portraying a character.

I also find that expressions are quite important, although not directly related to voice. Not just the ones that you make to indicate mood, but more of quirks or ticks. If a character has a tendency to sneer when asking questions, for instance, or raise an eyebrow when greeting others. Gesturing while talking is something that doesn't come naturally to me at all, but it is something that a lot of people do when talking, and can also add to things.

[Mastikator]

This is good advice both for DMs doing NPCs and players doing PCs.