Voices of Reason and Passion!

The voice of Passion lives in my house. She’s dressed like my teenage daughter (on any given day that might be a pair of jeans, topped with a skirt, with a tank top under a short sleeved sweatshirt, and a pair of what my husband calls, her Wonder Woman arm protectors). Now, to be fair, my daughter has long moments of what I call sanity, where reason prevails, when I can convince her that no, her brothers aren’t trying to drive her crazy, even though they insist on leaving the bathroom…well, you know.

And then there are the moments when passion takes over. When, despite our best efforts, life is simply too much, when she must play her music at the top of the allowed decibel levels, when, to put into GreySpeak, she has to dance it out. When, that inner wild thing must be heard, and set free, just for a moment. Only then can she breathe deeply, restore her sanity.

Sadly, or perhaps comfortingly, I see so much of myself in her. So, I know, someday, this too shall pass. (Or not, according to my husband).

So, the point is, we all have two sides to ourselves…a voice of reason, and a voice of passion. All my characters, when I develop them, have said voices, and I use them in various plot points throughout the book.

However, when dealing with SECONDARY characters – especially the kind who may or may not play a Supernatural Role in our hero’s journey, giving them their own particular VOICE in is a great way to illustrate the THEME of the story.

For example…let’s say our theme is forgiveness, like it was in my book Happily Ever After. Joe is grappling with forgiveness, and doesn’t know how to forgive someone for something that happened to him. He has a brother who acts as a voice of REASON, the voice that has perspective and grace and found the right answer.

Also in the story is a villain, someone who is out to sabotague my heroine, Mona. The villain is acting out of unforgiveness, and his anger is causing him to lose his morals, and eventually his freedom. Hmm….sounds like passion out of control to me.

Another example is…and here I go again, but the Hunt for Red October. The central character in the theme is Jack Ryan…and the theme is loyalty and trust. Of course, our voice of REASON is Sean Connery, who has looked at his life and this silent war and decided to aim for the US Eastern Seaboard. And, in the end, decides to trust someone he’s never met. The voice of PASSION is the OTHER Russian sub commander, who decides NOT to trust his own countrymen, and in fact kill them. (which of course, makes perfect sense, if you’re a Russian sub commander). But its two sides to the same theme…how much should you trust someone?

The Voice of Reason and the Voice of Passion are great ways to utilize your secondary characters. Look for ways you can accentuate the theme, to give it different points of view, and then apply them to your secondary characters. Suddenly, they’ll have their own voice and meaning on the page. And you’ll have a story with body, (and maybe one you can dance to!)

MBT won’t be posting tomorrow, but we’ll be back on Thursday with some POV issues…

In the meantime, drop me a line at booktherapy@susanmaywarren.com and tell me who YOUR voice of REASON and your voice of PASSION are in your story. We’ll be showcasing a few on Friday, and the top three will be in line for a preview copy of Wiser than Serpents, my brand new book (out next month!)