What do characters sound like when you read books?
By Mayuko
@Mayuko (1268)
United States
August 23, 2011 7:27am CST
This is something I've been very curious about. When you read a fictional book, what do the characters sound like when they talk?
When I read books, I almost always have the characters sound like people from TV shows and movies (usually animated shows). For example, when I'm reading Harry Potter now and Hermione sounds like Katara from "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (the animated series not the live action film) but Harry and Ron don't sound like anyone in particular.
Or in "Twilight", Edward kind of sounded like Johnny Yong Bosch :P (English dub for Ichigo from "Bleach" and Kiba from "Wolf's Rain")
So do you give characters any particular voices? (Please refrain from inadvertently revealing spoilers!)
2 people like this
4 responses
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
25 Aug 11
I don't think I assign voices to the characters or even really imagine what they're like. I've never really thought about it that way before. Then again, I don't usually have specific mental pictures of the characters either. I usually imagine them as general images with no details, if you know what I mean. I might be kind of weird though, most of the fellow avid-reading friends that I have say they do similar things.
@mabeldaclan (787)
• Philippines
23 Aug 11
If I'm reading fictional stories, I can usually hear in my mind the way they speak. They are not famous people. Its just the voice I formulated in my mind that I think would be most appropriate to the character.
. For example, if there is a bad guy, most probably I'll think of a very low voice. Something like that. That's what is really good about reading. Your creativity comes out. You have the chance to imagine and formulate or assemble the face of characters by their descriptions in the book.
. For example, if there is a bad guy, most probably I'll think of a very low voice. Something like that. That's what is really good about reading. Your creativity comes out. You have the chance to imagine and formulate or assemble the face of characters by their descriptions in the book. 
@hora_fugit (5862)
• India
23 Aug 11
In my imagination characters don't sound like any cartoon character. That I can say because cartoon characters have quite different style. Mine may be influenced by some mix of people. I visualize them too and more often than not get disappointed to see the adopted versions. All in all they are just affected by my ideals of 'what they should be like'. I'm quite definite in that part.
@petersum (4522)
• United States
23 Aug 11
This is a good question! My characters don't have voices like anyone famous, but they do have British regional accents, sometimes highly exaggerated. And they are pictured in my mind too. Often wearing clothes that don't really match the period or even the authors description.
It is amazing how the imagination wanders while reading!
