How do you "hear" the characters?

[discosoup]

When I read silently to myself, a voice for a character develops in my head. I am sure that is how it is with a lot of people. When I recently read the series aloud to my wife, I got to use the different voices and it was very fun. How do you perceive each character?

Violet: Average, somewhat low tones
Klaus: Nearly always frustrated. Speaks. Very. Slowly. When. Explaining. To. Idiot. Adults.
Sunny: Loud and squeaky.
For the kids, I didn't do too much. In fact, for Violet I did nothing but change pace. My wife would sometimes interrupt before I identified the speaker and said that she recognized one child or another, even though I wasn't aware that I was doing voices for them.

Olaf: Deep, sinister and happy. Probably the most fun voice to do. Unless he was a woman I didn't change his voice. That's because it was more fun to portray it as a very thin disguise.
Fernald: I always pictured him Australian or Cockney. I did him Australian.
Baldy: Deep and scatchy. Kind of hurt my throat.
Powder Faces: High pitched like a soprano.
Andrognous: No lines, but I tried the roars in a butch woman's voice.

Mr. Poe: A little stuffy. Coughed a lot when I read.

Justice Strauss: A bit weepy and motherly.

Uncle Monty: A bit zany and in the voice I use to use when teaching children.

Phil: Plucky and smiley.
Charles: Camp gay with a lisp.
Sir: Orson Welles.

Nero: LIKE BRIAN BLESSED! Basically shouting with a preposterous English accent and baritone.
Remora: Droning. A lot like Kip in Napoleon Dynamite.
Bass: An American version of the voice that is used to imitate Queen Elizabeth.
Carmelita: Loud, put emphasis on every syllable.
Isadora: It won't mean anything to you, but like one of my nieces. A little smart like any kid who wants to impress with their reading skills.
Duncan: Didn't do anything for him.

Esme: Audrey Hepburn meets Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen.
Jerome: Very meek.
Gustave: Swedish.

Hector: Mexican accent.
The VFD villagers: Old Jewish New Yorkers.
Jacque: Panicky. That's all there was to it.

Hal: Very wheezy and old.
Geraldine Julienne: Like a typical 30's and 40's fast-talking, gee-whiz "girl reporter." To get an idea watch The Hudsucker Proxy.

Madame Lulu: Russian-Romani mix.
Hugo: Peter Lorre/Ren from Ren and Stimpy, which was mostly a Peter Lorre impression to begin with.
Kevin: A Fred Stoller impression. Think Ray Romano if he were Jewish.
Collette: Quebecois.

The Man with a Beard but no Hair: Very Raspy. Really hurt to do.
The Woman with Hair but no Beard: Very deep, very manly.
Bruce: A lot like Phil.
Quigley: Kind of a cool kid, especially when shamelessly flirting.

Fiona: Australian, but it sounded more South African.
Widdershins: Irish. Mr. Krabbs.
Kit: Very feminine. Somber.

The Denouments: Somewhat soft-spoken.

Ishmael: You know the boss on Office Space? Like Him.
Mrs. Caliban: Julia Sweeney/Minnesota.

Is this like you heard them?

[Christmas Chief]

Have you ever thought of going into the audiobook business, discosoup?

I find it difficult to articulate how I subvocalize the characters' voices, but I think if I could they'd be similar to what you've described; it's interesting how one can put the personalities of the characters into the way they speak.

[discosoup]

Well, I have thought about doing voice acting, as I was a lot like James Doohan as a child, and still now, in that I just do different voices during the day for no reason and I constantly mimic the voices of others. I really want to do that but don't know how to get into it.

As for audiobooks, well, I feel that my normal speaking voice is a lot like the cartoon character Goofy.

[Dante]

You have changed Nero for me forever, and for that I thank you.

My internal voices for the characters aren't too distinct. They're also somewhat automatic; I couldn't say off the top of my head what any of them sound like without forcing it, rather than them just passively arising as I get absorbed in reading.

[Invisible]

Mostly what they sound like on the audiotapes, with one or two exception. I like to think Violet talks like the girl who played her in animated TMM sequel on Youtube, except with a posh, upper-class-type New England accent. Klaus's voice is in the verge of breaking, so his would be raspy and rough at times, while at others, it would be higher. Bless ;D And Esme is half-French in my ficverse, so her accent changes from a Texas to a French accent. She does this every few sentences or so.

[colette]

Violet: talks with a loud sonorous voice, has problems with such sibilant sounds.
Klaus: always slowly and quietly.
Sunny: the same like Klaus

Count Olaf: deep and sinister.
Esme: very sweet, tender but a bit sinister

Fernald: normal, pleasant voice, with Korean accent.
Phil: always happy and high voice
Widdershins: low, strong and loud voice.

Hugo: very quiet, deep and pleasant voice.
Kevin: always changes his voice.

[discosoup]

Pretty interesting takes on the voices. I like the half-French Esme. Korean Fernald is also interesting.

[TheInimitableKB]

May 7, 2011 4:55:52 GMT -5 Invisible said:

Mostly what they sound like on the audiotapes, with one or two exception. I like to think Violet talks like the girl who played her in animated TMM sequel on Youtube, except with a posh, upper-class-type New England accent. Klaus's voice is in the verge of breaking, so his would be raspy and rough at times, while at others, it would be higher. Bless ;D And Esme is half-French in my ficverse, so her accent changes from a Texas to a French accent. She does this every few sentences or so.

I particularly like this description. ;D Don't know why.

I usually imagined Violet talking in the mid-ranges, Klaus a little lower, but younger sounding, than Violet. And Sunny sounds really high-pitched. Past that, I don't know how to describe how I imagine them to sound.

[Lady Whatever]

Violet: I always pictured her having the same voice as Daria Morgendorfer, only with less of a monotone and a bit higher.
Klaus: Solemn and somewhat melancholy, like any youth who has seen too much for his age, and whispering somewhat. I also ended up, through complete accident, having him be given a slight Bosnian accent, because my significant other's best friend is Bosnian, and he is everything Klaus would be as a grown up in terms of appearance, mannerisms, and personal goals.
Sunny: I babysit a lot, and I pictured Sunny as being this one little girl I babysit who is very precocious and has a somewhat deep voice for an infant.
Olaf: I heard a leering voice, with a smoker's rasp and a sort of tailpipe-dragging-on-gravel quality which makes him very frightening when angry, but very arrogant as well. If anyone's ever played Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Alexander's voice is very close to Olaf's.
Esme: Helen Mirren if she were American and evil.

[discosoup]

About Olaf, a bit more, I hear him speaking slowly and clearly, in the same manner as Kevin Kline, because he is a theatrical actor. Every line drawn out.

[Invisible]

May 7, 2011 15:47:33 GMT -5 TheInimitableKB said:

May 7, 2011 4:55:52 GMT -5 Invisible said:

Mostly what they sound like on the audiotapes, with one or two exception. I like to think Violet talks like the girl who played her in animated TMM sequel on Youtube, except with a posh, upper-class-type New England accent. Klaus's voice is in the verge of breaking, so his would be raspy and rough at times, while at others, it would be higher. Bless ;D And Esme is half-French in my ficverse, so her accent changes from a Texas to a French accent. She does this every few sentences or so.

I particularly like this description. ;D Don't know why.

I have an obsession with boys' voices breaking for some reason. lol

[beack]

Mostly how most people imagine the voices. Though sadly I hear Kevin with Daniel Handler's voice. You know why.

[discosoup]

I don't know why.

[Leanora Crowe]

Like Dante, most of the characters are just sort of automatic for me. The only one that I can really explain is Ishmael. He sounds exactly like Lotso on Toy Story 3. They even have the same personality. Creepy...

[beack]

May 9, 2011 16:59:21 GMT -5 discosoup said:

I don't know why.

Well DH's voice is (in my opinion) melodramatic (when he's playing LS) and kind of... blah