Keys to Creating a Memorable Character For your Monologue:
1) Character: for character you must continually expose the speakers feelings, attitudes, personality
within the context of the situation you have placed him or her. You must focus on an event or series
events that drive the speaker to react, to feel, and to think about, which your reader then reads.
Remember conflicts drive stories not thoughts. Place monologues between conflicts---in other
words something happens and the character reacts and then another conflict arises and the
character reacts until there is an overall resolution to the story and/or information being
divulged/spoken about.
2) Voice: figure out what kind of voice you are going to use. Is it full of anger, gentleness, lack of
sureness, authority, or whininess, etc…. The character must speak in a particular way that is
distinctive and noticeable throughout the monologue, and where it conforms or makes sense with
the kind of character you have established and in the context of the situations he or she is placed.
3) Diction: this is how the character speaks in terms of pronunciation and accent. You are not going to
give someone from a particular cultural background a completely different accent, for example,
unless you can very clearly establish why the character has the voice he or she does.
4) Understands Structure: the structure refers to the idea that despite the difference between spoken
dialogue and an internal monologue, the monologue should conform to the basic tenants found
within the craft of writing. By this you should still show instead of tell, maintain the character’s
voice, and stay in point of view. Be careful about moving from past to present and back again. You
must always indicate in some way when you are moving back and forth in time. An example is: I
remembered suddenly the same moment I had when I was a kid. It was a bright sunny day,
etc…---here you would describe the situation--- and then you would come back to the present with
something like this. The memory fell to pieces when a car horn blasted and all I could think
was how stupid I had been back then and of course it made me wonder if I had really
changed all that much since then. You mustn’t think a character’s thoughts changes any of the
basic “rules” within the craft of writing.
5) Creates Meaning from Text: remember that you are trying to convey some kind of important
message through your monologue. The situations, thoughts, feelings of the character have to
reflect the overall theme of the story and create some kind of purpose for the story you are telling
from the character’s point of view. In other words what is the purpose of the character relating the
story in the monologue.
6) Spelling and Grammar: this always counts, of course, but if you choose to have your character
speak with a particular accent or manner that does not conform to typical spelling and grammar
rules you must be consistent throughout your monologue in terms of the structure of the words you
use. I wouldn’t recommend using this approach too much as it can lead to confusion and
inconsistency if you are not very careful. However, feel free to be as creative as you like if it suits
the voice of the character.