Gina & Rus: Character Voice
This is one of the exercises from 21 Days to a Novel by Michael A. Stackpole. Posting it here as handwriting it is leaving me dry.
“So what’s the feed, Blue Eyes?”
“I think I’ve uncovered something and I don’t know what to do.”
“‘Uncovered’ what?”
“Well… I was researching BioFutures and Percy demanded I stop.”
“So?”
“So? We’re supposed to be the free press. Why the prohibition?”
“Did you ask him about it?”
“He said there are other lines of investigation that might be more fruitful for my first story.”
“Well then.”
“When I pushed he just said ‘no’.”
“Blue, I think you’re overreacting.”
“People were murdered. Assassinated maybe.”
“In Missicity. Hardly headline stuff.”
“What about the ritualistic paraphernalia? The carvings?”
“Gang stuff.”
“I suppose…”
“Don’t go looking for glitches in a broken system, Blue.”
“Alright. I’m sorry. What’s up with Moreau?”
“Don’t even get me started. Fraking cat won’t even meow now, let alone talk.”
“Is there a malfunction?”
“Well obviously. It’s functioning badly! Did you fail Latin at ASchool?”
“I- No. I passed with distinction.”
“Good. So yes. Malfunction.”
“Hardware or software?”
“Built both myself. He’s got the voice modulator and it’s all linked up correctly. Triple checked.”
“So it must be the software then. What language bank did you use?”
“YaGooBle. It’s not fancy, but it’s the most popular. Didn’t even tinker. Just poured it in there. Then did a reinstall last time.”
“Does he have the pathways to parse thought into language?”
“Totally. And scans show he’s doing it.”
“Um…”
“Exactly. Can’t figure the fraking thing out.”
“We’ve hit the limit of my technical knowledge, I’m afraid. Sorry I can’t help more.”
“Yeah, well. You’re a writer not a coder. We’re from different worlds.”
“Hahaha. Very good. We could make a writer of you yet…”
[Author note: Can you tell who is who? I’m getting more of a feel for them as individuals. What do you think? I’d love comments about who you think is who, and what you can take from this little exchange.]
