I'm not one of those authors who claims to hear voices in my head or 'let the characters speak through me,' whatever that might mean.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Writers have to have a knack for listening. I need to be able to hear what is being said to me by the voices I create.
Every so often you read a play and a character just speaks to you - almost seems to speak through you, in fact.
Sometimes I hear a voice - sometimes it's the voice of someone I know. And sometimes that leads to a character, which leads to a story.
Character and story are suggested by the voice in the words themselves.
Sometimes I'll get a premise, you know, for a book. In fact, I get those quite often. And I don't commit to it until I really know the voice of that character. It's almost as if the character is speaking to me.
It is not the voice that commands the story; it is the ear.
I can't read novels while I'm writing a novel, because somebody's voice creeps in.
As I read, I start to form clear ideas of the characters and allow myself to be a proper conduit for this author's voice so that you will feel you have been on a seductive audio journey.
I'm much more comfortable speaking through my characters' voices than my own.
When you write, you hear the characters speaking to you as you take dictation from what they say. And obviously, they had particular personalities when you hear them.