Can You Be a Super Villain!?!

“Bwahahaha, I will defeat you!” Black Dragon’s deep, coarse voice echoed through the room followed by coughing and gasping.


“Trouble there, Auntie Tammie?” My niece laughed as she witnessed my failed attempt to be a super villain.

Black Dragon was supposed to be fearsome. I was playing with my nephew, trying to get into character and the deep voice rasped my throat. The next day I was feeling the slight dryness in my throat and my voice still sounded a little hoarse.

Thankfully, writing in super villain (or any other) voice doesn’t take a physical toll on the body.

In non-fiction it is generally the writer’s voice a reader “hears.” A friend once said she enjoyed reading my blog because she liked seeing things from my perspective – she was responding to my voice. Fiction writing is different. What the reader responds to is not the author’s thoughts and feelings. They are responding to the narrator or point of view character’s inner psyche.

Finding the right voice for a book is one of the keys to the success of the story. Writing in the wrong voice can completely change the impact of the work. Had I used my best kitty cat persona when playing with my nephew Black Dragon would lose some of his punch. Think about it….”Hee, hee, hee, mean old Black Dragon is going to defeat silly little Dragonoid. That’s right, I am; what do you think about that you silly thing?”

Really, voice is something that is important throughout life so it shouldn’t be so surprising that it is equally important in writing. We all have our own unique voice. I don’t mean the physical aspect of whether we sound like a super sexy hunk or a squeaky Cinderella mouse. I’m talking about all those little things that make us us; the words we use, the inflection and tone, the pace, and on and on. We are who we are and we should be proud of that. Speak who you are loudly whether it be through words or just the way you live your life. In turn, this will infuse your writing with that irresistible aspect that makes it exactly you.