I too, have voices (plural) in my head and each is different with different tonal inflections, accents, as well as having different choices in the words they use. Those become the characters in the stories I am writing.

How does one express them in written form to others? I'm uncertain about that but I find that when I read material written by others I tend to place those different voices onto their characters as well. I've done this all my life so..........

As far as sounding "hollow" or non-embodied? that happens sometimes too. I think that until one has picked a personality for a character the voice is simply "blank"... having no impetus to take on specific inflections.

It might be important to note that having been exposed to many "foreigners" who were speaking English that I have a wide range to pick from. But yes, until I decide upon a character's hysterical (as opposed to historical) background the voice in my head sounds blank or "hollow". The words are there but no personality. I didn't even know I was doing this until I decided one of my characters wasn't the heritage which their voice was indicating and should have been something else. That caused a sudden change in the "sound" of that character's voice which I immediately noticed (like going from Oriental to Scottish - and please don't everyone get after me for having selected those particular descriptive words, I know there is a lot more to it than just that).

What I'm trying to say, I think, is that until one has decided what their "inner voice" sounds like (and I can make mine vary from slavic to african [again a wide range of selection] to mid-western USA to Southern USA to British amoung others [I particularly like the Irish and the Scots][ oh, and female or male as well]) then that "inner voice" just has words... no personality of it's own. Oh God, I've just noticed that I change the way I spell words as I think of the different backgrounds... even the sound of the vowels... HELP!

Try listening to characters in movies and freinds who have a light accent due to the area of the country in which they were raised or those differences which mark them as being of different heritage such as French, Spanish, Italian, United Kingdon (and again, I hear different accents and tonal inflections as well as word choices from them dependent upon their country of origin [Australia, England, Scotland, Etc.).

As you learn the differences people place into their voices, sub-conciously, then begin to experiment with making your "inner voice" use those differences. Perhaps this makes me Scizophrenic but I use it a great deal when writing.

[sometimes I even listen to people and try to change how and what they are saying from their cultural background to that of another - it's a great game)

Now, before everyone begins to send the men in white coats after me, I think I'll just beat a hasty retreat into the Neather worlds once again.

Thanks for listening

Anesidora