R/writing: Actually characters don't need distinct voices 
How do I give my characters different voices?
I'm writing (in first person) from both perspectives and sometimes I just feel like there might not be enough "individuality" in my characters even though I really try to "make" them think and act in a way that fits and identifies them. Plus, I figured I could tell the difference if I read my work, but I'm afraid the readers might not. If you've ever gone through something similar, what made you realise your "gut feeling" was right/wrong?
OP has a great question, and an interesting challenge for any writer. People think, speak, and write differently, and in a first person text with multiple perspective you need to get this right.
Now the top comment doesn't even know what "voice" means in this context:
"You don't need to make your characters sound different, just make sure the text explains who's talking."
This person believes dialect, funny accents, and catchphrases are the only ways that people communicate differently.
OP comes back with a sensible followup question:
This is exactly where a normal person might question whether the protagonists should have such similar ways of thinking, or suggest using their internal monologues to further differentiate the characters, or give ANY of the advice out there about character voice. Is the voice stream of consciousness or more structured? Formal or informal? Sparse or prosy? What kinds of words do they use to describe their surroundings? What is their emotional tone? How does their attitude, mindset, personal history, etc. affect the style of their narrative?
The response they get is... slightly approaching advice about different perspectives, but I'm pretty sure it's also a Kingdom Hearts monologue.
This may help you distinguish who in your story is thinking.
Ok but how does this affect their use of language?
Are you... A professional quote maker?
Thank you for your sweet comment. I don’t know why but it validated me somehow.
Ok but how do they sound 
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This is the story of how somebody who wants to be a writer discovered that there will never be anything of value for them on /r/writing.
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It’s an important stepping stone
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A character should quip at least once a minute actually. Doesn’t matter who or why. Don’t think. Just quip.
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Is that a... serious emotional moment? Oh god, I'm... I'm QUOOOOPING!!!
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You must quip. If you do not, people might get sad.
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also, accents
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Joss Whedon and his consequences have been a disaster for the human race.
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Lmao ppl seethe about this but it worked for alot of marvel movies
Filmcels:
Noooo watch Tarkovsky's Stalker!!
Marvelchads:
Haha I like the talking raccoon guy
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Only very smart jokes tho
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How are they going to have voice if it's text, dumbass?
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Elevenlabs, obviously
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you don't listen to your books like a normal person?
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Yes Im a 42 year old man. Yes I make my daddy read me bedtime stories. Is there a problem?
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Reddit's hobby-skill subs are often pretty shitty when it comes to real advice, and they've become so insular that they're mostly divorced from reality. They will teach you how to learn things the way the sub likes things, not the way that real people want. Another hyperreal simulacrum of a help forum.
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The internet in general is a lot different than it was 20 years ago. You can't assume that you're getting advice from someone with any kind of authority on the matter. There used to be a kind of barrier to entry that meant that if you were in a hobby sub or hobby forum of a specific niche you were probably talking to someone that has experience - or an autist. Now you might be talking to a 12 year old, or a 65 year old man with dimentia - or an autist.
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The early internet was wild. Like in the 90s if you had a question about Linux you could probably ask Linus himself and he'd respond (most likely to call you an r-slur). A handful of authors, TV show creators, etc were early adopters too and interacted directly with fans. Like you could talk to the Babylon 5 creator about the latest episode.
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Now they install Kali Linux.
Follower of Christ
Tech lover, IT Admin, heckin pupper lover and occasionally troll. I hold back feelings or opinions, right or wrong because I dislike conflict.
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I had redhat in 2001
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Also: you can email Richard Stallman and he will respond if it’s not an obvious troll.
Follower of Christ
Tech lover, IT Admin, heckin pupper lover and occasionally troll. I hold back feelings or opinions, right or wrong because I dislike conflict.
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It is so fricking over
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the fediverse is cool cause you can send a message to Linus.
Follower of Christ
Tech lover, IT Admin, heckin pupper lover and occasionally troll. I hold back feelings or opinions, right or wrong because I dislike conflict.
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Not only was Stephen Moffat active on the doctor who forums as a kid in the 90s, but you can see him pitching plot lines in his posts that he wound up doing in the show.
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I would probably get better and more realistic advice/insight on any given subject here—a bussy-focused, gay dating cat lover site—than on that shithole reddit with all of its fake experts.
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On reddit I would assume you're talking to autists, 16 year olds, and people who are whacked out on drugs. Mostly drugs honestly, if they aren't stoners they are faded af on some SSRIs.
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Anything related to tech and it's an Indian teenager. I had a passing thought about making a tint meter using an Arduino. Googled it and there's zero text articles, but plenty of videos by Ikhuan Yusuf and Sahyin Amzi about it. Just what I need when identifying capacitor values.
God help me yesterday, Cura refused to launch. A German program used for 3D printing. I may as well buy a new computer.
My blood boils thinking about trying to create minor mods for a private GTA San Andreas Multiplayer server. Every how-to was written by a 12 year old and included a ton of functions and variable names that made it clear they just copy-pasted their own code (copied from elsewhere) and didn't remove the unrelated lines.
Any programming tutorial, really. You don't need to call it "myVar", give it a name relevant to what we're doing here.
I'm not going to claim to be a programming guru, as anyone who looked at my pastebin will clearly see, but holy shit a little clarity goes a long way.
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internet search engines are so so bad now. i can hardly fine anything i want when i google it and the articles i do lead are always those shitty bot sites that details what the frick you're doing before it actually does the shit you want, assuming if it's there at all.
"HOW DO I X IN ARCH" and the article goes "DID YOU KNOW THAT ARCH RUNS LINUX????????????????????????????????????????????????????????"
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Goddarnit the ones I hate the most are the ones that waffle.
"Lawnmowers are an essential tool for the modern homeowner who wants to keep their lawn trimmed. We understand how frustrating it can be when the lawnmower stops working. With a few simple troubleshooting steps...."
Goddarnit I just need to know if the front belt goes on the top or bottom pulley.
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it's like going to /r/dating_advice for dating advice, the only people posting there are the sad sacks that have failed at dating and are now trying to tell other people what to do
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Knowing from experience what not to do can be useful, but it requires honesty, self-awareness, and no ideological brainworms
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Design subs are terrible like that, especially ones that are for advertising. There are no professionals in there and all students who don't have the real world experience to read a brief and solve a problem for a client. Which is fine, everyone starts somewhere. But, they are all giving each other advice with zero clue on what they are talking about, just how they imagine things go. Truly the blind leading the blind.
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/r/cscareerquestions is similar. Many of the other programming subs have had to ban career and learning posts because dimwitted baristas inevitably show up to some sub named StaffSoftwareEngineers and post threads with titles like “how do I import pandas?”
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The Godot game engine sub is the same way, except the lack of knowledge is made even more obvious since Reddit has a ton of people skilled in programming and game design in other subs.
It's made worse since the users are hyper-defensive of the engine so you brainlets parroting things said by knowledgeable people in the wrong contexts all the time. Worst thing the devs did was call their engine beginner friendly. Game programming isn't really a great way to learn how to code and Godot doesn't have many experts or resources to teach scrubs.
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