I recently received a phone call relating to a business payment I’d sent. The gentleman on the line required confirmation relating to the transaction. Pretty simple, right? But the moment I heard his voice—a deep, velvety Australian accent where he could make a mint recording audiobooks—my brain caught the crazy train to Mushville.
Somehow I cleared the haze and answered his questions (all this transpired within a ninety-second conversation!), but my brain buzzed far longer. What was it about his voice?
As a certified romance junkie, I’ve read many novels where the protagonist responds to her future love interest the moment she hears his voice, and I must admit I’ve always been a cynic. I mean, c’mon. Really? Does this happen in reality? Until the aforementioned phone conversation, I had never experienced the phenomena (sorry, Mr Wonderful!).
This led me down the author rabbit hole I tumble through 80% of the time. How do characters speak to us as readers, and how do we hear their voices when we read? I tend to “hear” characters with an Aussie twang… unless the lead male is British, then they all sound like James Bond.
When you read, do you “hear” the characters speaking to you? If you’re reading a story set overseas, do you imagine characters with an accent native to their setting or a voice similar to yours?
Until next time,
