Write a scene using these three characters. Use the picture to help you create their “voices.” What are they talking about? What might they say? What do the drawing styles suggest about their voice, vocabulary and sentence structure?

VOICE CONTINUED

Persona, Character Voice & Point of View

FIRST SOME FUN STUFF

Let’s look at two versions of the same song. For

some reason I think this illustrates my point about

voice better than most covers.

Pete Yorn – Strange Condition

VS

Morgan Page – Strange Condition

PERSONA

A voice or mask that an author, speaker, or performer

puts on for a particular purpose. It can be a mask adopted by

the author, which may be a public manifestation of the author’s

self, or a distorted or partial version of that self, or a fictional,

historical, or mythological character. The concept of a persona

allows us to acknowledge that, just as no written account can

tell the whole truth about an event, so no “I” of a poem, essay,

or story is exactly the same as the person who writes.

Example: Margaret Atwood Siren’s Song

CHARACTER VOICE

In ways other than ironic, you may also speak in

the persona of a character who is largely or totally unlike

you. A character’s voice is a chosen mimicry and is one of

the most rewarding devices of imaginative writing, a skill to

pursue in order to develop rich characters both in their

narratives and in their dialogue. Your voice will never be

entirely absent from the voice of the characters you create,

but the characters too can be distinct and recognizable

EXAMPLES

“You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the

name of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” but that ain’t no matter.

That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth,

mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told

the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied, one time

or another, without it was Aunty Polly—Tom’s Aunt Polly, she is—

and Mary, and the Widow Douglas, is all told about in that book—

which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said

before.” – Mark Twain, from Huckleberry Finn

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

From Blake Nelson’s Girl

POINT-OF-VIEW

Closely allied to the concept of voice is point of view. Point of view as a

literary technique is a complex and specific concept, dealing with vantage point and

addressing the question: Who is standing whereto watch the scene? The answer

will involve the voice of the teller, the intended listener, and the distance or

closeness of both the action and the diction. An author’s view of the world, as it

is and as it ought to be, will ultimately be revealed by manipulation of the point

of view, but not vice versa.

First Person

Second Person

Third Person

Example of Point of View: Tod

Goldberg “This is What You Left Behind

YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Write a “persona” poem. Choose anyone you want

and write something from their perspective.

OR…

Choose one of the pieces we read today and write

the story from another character’s point of view.

For the Tod Goldberg piece, you could choose the

wife who left or even Shelby the dog. For Siren’s

Song you could choose the sailors.