X-Position: Simon Spurrier

CBR: In this week's X-Position, Spurrier answered many questions about "X-Force," including the untimely death of ForgetMeNot, the working relationship between Cable and Dr. Nemesis, the current status of Hope Summers and much, much more.

Your X-Force is currently my favorite x-book right now and I have to say thanks for some awesomely fun storytelling. Sadly I don't really have any good questions so I'll just ask who's voice do you hear when you write Psylocke? Actually do you hear anyone's voice when you write your characters?

Spurrier: Tricky one. I tend to say all my characters' dialogue out loud while I'm writing it (one among many reasons I'm utterly insufferable to be around while working) so I suppose the most accurate answer is that I hear my own bloody voice when writing Psylocke and the rest. But that's a pretty cruel aural impression to inflict upon (I assume?) a Psylocke fan, so I suppose the more appropriate answer would be that I base her voice, and more importantly her choice of words, on two or three of my friends who fit the mould. That is: born into money, well educated, well spoken -- "queen's English," daahling -- but with all the elegant corners filed off by years of experience, perspective, camouflage and damage. You probably don't need me to tell you the class system is alive and well in the UK, and the most telling metric of which side you're on in the secret war is often the plumminess of your voice. It follows that a lot of very well-to-do people, who recognize and despise the unfairness of the system despite being born to privilege, develop a fascinating hybrid syntax mixing "posh" enunciation and articulacy with slang, inventive neologisms and the ability to swear like a fucking trooper. Many of my snobbiest pals have the most delightfully dirty mouths.

Anyway, that's kind of how I hear Psylocke. Two parts frosty well-spoken aristocracy to one part affable gutter.

I'm actually a bit hesitant to go suggesting Known Names -- actors, etc -- to give you a sense of whose voices I hear when I write these characters, because it smacks of being a little restrictive, if not outright problematic. What if that voice feels totally wrong compared to the one you -- as a reader -- have already subconsciously assigned? You're going to be constantly tripping yourself up wondering if you're Hearing It Right, when in truth yours is really the only "right" which matters.

I think part of the joy of these things is the personal touch that comes from each reader experiencing a character in a subtly different way, y'know? The Betsy Braddock in your head won't ever sound quite like the Betsy Braddock in someone else's, and that's magical and mystical and marvelous. In fact the only thing I'll commit to text right here, as a sliver of I-stand-by-it personal wisdom, it's this: you'll enjoy these comics better if you move your lips while you read.

Seriously. Accents live in mouths, not brains.