Finding My Voice
Hi again, it’s Livia here!
We recently had a workshop with Morna Young, where we focused on writing dialogue, and how to find a unique voice for our characters. Most of this was focussed on writing in Scots and putting regional language into our work. We started by interrogating how we speak in real life, thinking of words that are unique to where we come from or our own families. Then we worked on finding ways to show this in the monologues we had written previously. I really enjoyed the workshop, and after looking at big topics, like plot, character and structure, focussing in on the individual words and voices of our characters was refreshing and interesting. This is such an important element of a play, and can add so much to the work, but I had not thought that much about it previously.
That being said, I also came up against some struggles in the workshop. Despite living in Dumfries and Galloway my entire life, I have never felt particularly connected to the way people speak in the region, mostly due to my mum being English. I’ve always been the most Scottish one in my family, and the least Scottish one in school. Therefore, I came up against some struggles over whether I have the ‘right’ to write in Scots, and would it be authentic if I did? I also struggled a bit to pick out the features I use or the ways I speak which make my voice distinctive or unique, because I don’t use that much regional slang or anything. I think it’s harder to distinguish what makes your voice different if it doesn’t feel like it fits into any particular category.
When we all got together to discuss the workshop afterwards, I was glad to know that someone felt similarly to me. Eilidh said she also felt a bit like an outsider growing up because she didn’t speak like everyone else. It was really fascinating to get everyone’s perspectives on this issue. Identity and language are so important to all of us, and everyone has a different relationship with them. We also talked about how maybe this position as an outsider – not quite Scottish enough – could be interesting to explore somehow in my writing. I’m honestly not sure what I would do with it or what story I would want to tell, but it is an issue that continues to fascinate me, and I have been mulling it over a lot since our workshop and the discussion afterwards.
Everyone changes how they speak
and the words they use based on who they are talking to, and personally, my
Scottish accent and vocabulary changes greatly depending on who I’m with. I had
never really thought of this as anything more than a weird quirk of my
upbringing, but after talking through these things for a long time, it made me
think that maybe there’s something dramatically interesting in someone who
changes how they speak so drastically. Speech and identity are both very important
to me, and I think instead of shying away from my own chameleon voice, maybe I
should embrace it. I loved Morna’s workshop, not only because her enthusiasm
and passion for writing and language were really inspiring, but also because
she raised these interesting questions in me, which has left me pondering these
issues for weeks…
Livia Nicholson
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