Hey everyone, Flobo here!
I like pro wrestling. I like comic books. No, I’m not incredibly socially awkward. (OK, that last one was a lie). Anyway, I can tell you that even though they look different on the surface, the two media are closely related and that they can BOTH help you with your writing…
Don’t believe me? Fine, but this guy loves a challenge! Take this picture for example:
This is DC Comics’ JUSTICE LEAGUE. Without going on into full geek territory, here are their names and powers from left.
Aquaman: Ruler of Atlantis. Rocks a pretty awesome trident and empathizes with the underwater animal kingdom Green Lantern: Has a nifty ring crafted and powered from the Emerald Light of Willpower. Wonder Woman: Strength, flight, an awesome lasso and even better hair. Superman: Strength, Speed, Heat Vision, Ice Breath. The superhero gold standard. Batman: Errr. Aww, who cares? The Flash: Super Speed, control of the “Speed Force” Cyborg: Half man, Half Robot. All action!
The point I’m trying to make is that every particular hero has a certain set of attributes. Moreover, since they are a team their abilities differ enough from each other in that they COMPLIMENT each other, making the stories involving them that much stronger. Also, instead of beating up the villain of the week, the avenue is open for internal conflict as well. This makes the characters more relatable to your reader. Who wants to read a comic book (or in your case read a novel) about a bunch of characters who think and act the same? You laugh, but it happens a lot more than you think.
VOICE
When you’re writing your characters the vocabulary, syntax and and dialect should be unique to each individual character. For example, you know what I look like (my ugly mug is on the upper right hand corner of this blog in case you were wondering) but what if I started posting like this?
Flobo 1: Salutations lads and lasses and other pupils of the pen! Thank your more inquisitive part of your mind for venturing to my humble abode on the web!
0r
Flobo 2: Yo, whuz gud? Dis my blog, good looks for chekkin dis out right chea.
Two completely different people. Well, what does this have to do with wrestling?
Like comic books, professional wrestling is made up of two camps having the heroes (or “faces”) taking on the villains (or “heels”). In ring, the performance amounts to little more than theater for the common man, but there are elements at play here that can be ascribed to any other medium with ease. You see, in an ideal situation each wrestler has their own distinct “voice”. Whether its by the moves they perform, or the words they use when given microphone time, or even their on-screen personality (in the form of gimmicks), each athlete puts their own spin on the wrestling profession and thus have different abilities then their contemporaries (like the superheroes).
Let’s play a game. Pretend you don’t know anything about wrestling. Do you think this guy:
Would have the same moves, spoken word presence, and attitude as this guy?:
When you are making your stories, it’s very easy to have every character to speak the same. After all, they all were born out of the same mind. It’s to your advantage however, to make each character that much different by giving them different “abilities” in the form of voice, characterizations, and actions.
As always, Happy Writings!
–Flobo
Flobo Boyce 
word!