On Voices · 4:58am Dec 19th, 2020
This has nothing to do with narrative voice, though I could talk about that for hours if I really wanted to.
No, this is inspired purely by the happenstance of my listening to a cover, by SquigglyDigg, of a song from Sonic Adventure 2, Crush 40's Live and Learn. Video here:
I have a quirk, as I'm sure some others do, whereby I imagine a character's voice when reading their dialogue in a story, which sometimes conflicts with my fast reading, particularly if a character has a speech impediment that the author depicts through altering the dialogue itself to illustrate such... but beyond that, I simply like to hear the character's voices in my head.
-Anyway-
Over time, while writing To Bellenast, my internal idea of each character's voice has morphed as I have developed their personalities, to better reflect those personalities.
The first voice I ever envisioned was that of Carbide. If you couldn't tell by context, I took some inspiration for Carbide's character from Jarvis, of Marvel's MCU Iron Man movies (I have neither read nor taken an interest in the comics, so the MCU movies are the extent of my experience with Marvel characters). Though Paul Bettany with a synthesized voice filter is not exactly the tone and timbre I imagine when I read Carbide's lines in my head, it is rather close, so feel free to continue imagining Jarvis/Vision if you wish.
The second voice that really solidified in my head was that of Night Cloud, or Nubiála Noča (Nu-bee-AH-lah NO-cha, literally "Cloud of Night" or "Cloudy Night") in her native tongue. I always meant for her to have an accent, but a mild one, as though she learned the second language from a relatively young age, and quickly, but deliberately masked her accent to blend in as much as possible.
For Night Cloud's voice, I imagine something like Anni-Frid Lyngstad, one of the lead singers of Swedish band ABBA. I realize that refering to a person's singing voice does not reliably give the same impression as that same person's normal, speaking voice, but it's close enough to what I hear in my head to do the job, particularly because she has a slight, but clearly audible accent while singing.
Again, it's not quite what I imagine, but it's close.
I have a clear idea of the voices of Eagle, Zephyr, and Ivy, but don't have specific real-world examples. For Eagle, I think there's actually a character in Fallout: New Vegas who sounds similar, but I can't remember who it is or where in the game he is. Isaac Clarke from Dead Space is in the right ballpark, but not close enough that I want to say it confidently. Imagine Isaac with a slightly deeper voice and generally calmer demeanor, and that's sort of similar.
The clearest voice, for me, is Crystal Dew's, of course, but, as with the others, I can't point to a real-world example. If I find one, I'll make another blog about it, I guess. Hers is the voice that changed the most over the course of her character's evolution. For now, just imagine her as having whatever pint-sized, but spunky and mood-swingy filly's voice makes sense for you. One description I can think of now is that her vocal pipes didn't change much between ages 10 and 14, but her temperament took SN8 as a role model.
That said, the one character whose voice has, in my head, remained unchanged from the very beginning, is Blizziera Firenza, or Blitz.
I promise, Murky Number Seven's Brimstone Blitz did not inspire me here; in fact, early in my brainstorming for To Bellenast, but after reading MN7 years ago and being introduced to Brim, I came up with, first, "Blizzieri" and then "Blizziera" (because masculine/feminine conventions) to make her name distinct from Brimstone Blitz. Also, the Firenza family name was totally not inspired by Ezio Auditori da Firenze, not at all. Naaaaah.
The Narrator: But it was.
---Anyway---
I have always imagined Blitz as having a voice that would make her an excellent singer, but with the caveat that she never had any musical experience beyond hearing lullabies as a child, and when Ivy might sing some tunes from her own childhood while they had brief moments isolated from the other alicorns of Unity. So, no opera performances from Princess Blizziera of House Firenza, but I have always held onto the idea that she would be a good singer if she had any interest in it.
If you've been listening to that Live and Learn cover while reading this, that, my friends and readers, is what Blizziera would sound like if she were to take to the stage.
I don't expect many replies, but if any of you who have read To Bellenast or Fallout: Equestria, or any of its offshoots, have your own internal voices for any of these characters, or characters from other fanfics, and have examples, I would love to hear them.
That is all. Stay safe, keep your distance from Covidiots, and have a wonderful Christmas, New Year, Hanukkah, or whichever holiday you do or don't celebrate.
