Think of the different voices you use in daily life. You have a certain voice you use with the boss, another one with your partner, and a completely separate one you save for your mother.

If you’re a parent, you have several voices you use with your children. There’s the stern, foreboding voice that shows your dissatisfaction or the loving, acknowledging voice that shows your approval. Then there is the voice you don’t even know is inside you when something scary happens to one of your children.

I’ll bet you have a different voice you reserve for your favorite barista at the coffee shop or the checkout clerk at your neighborhood bookstore. How about the formal, professional voice you use when you answer the phone or meet new clients at work? And if you’re Catholic, there’s an altogether different voice you use in the confessional.

How you say things in each different voice results from your background, your education level, where you live, your personality traits and quirks, and to whom you’re speaking. Now multiply that by the number of characters in your book, and you’ll come to understand multiple personality disorders. Or maybe not. It could just be the life of a writer. See More . . .