Happy Saturday!
I have been studying voice over so that I can act in some of the shows that I have been writing. I’m starting with a wonderful teacher, Paul Liberti, who has a unique way of teaching us how to almost instantly create characters and find their “voice.”
“Finding your voice” is the goal when you learn to write fiction. The notion is that there’s a written voice that’s unique to yourself as a writer! Realizing that the voice is not a metaphor has revolutionized both away I write and the way I act.
When I teach character creation, one of the techniques I teach my students to use is to find an actor who sounds like the new character, and to find a TV show or movie where they appear. The exercise is to then to watch three scenes and transcribe their dialogue as they are speaking.
This exercise has a double benefit because you can imagine the lines that your character would say, and also by writing down dialogue you see how it looks on the page rather than how it plays on screen.
Then watch the three scenes and transcribe the other characters’ dialogue in the same scenes.
Finally read what you’ve transcribed aloud, imitating all the characters.
To recap, use a voice actor’s technique to create amazing characters fast!
Here’s to your successful writing,
Professor Marilyn Horowitz
