Do I Hear Voices?
I've been writing for a rather long time now - approximately two-thirds of my life. I did try to start writing while I was in grade school and high school, but between sports and homework, I didn't get very far. It wasn't until I got to college that I started writing just about anything and everything. It wasn't during college that I attempted my first book. The book got to about 8,000 or 10,000 words. One problem with it - besides being pretty bad - was that it didn't go anywhere. There weren't any good plot devices or characters. It was more like the story of what happens with a prisoner for several days in their life.
During that period, I wrote a lot of short stories. I would start each one with some kind of quote from a song I liked, a title that is somewhat related to the story, and then I'd bang out the story. It's not difficult to see that the stories in themselves were pretty bad. I'm sure any writer who starts out in their craft isn't the best writer. To be a great chef, you have to break a few eggs and burn some pancakes, right?
Later on, the stories got more complex and better. I wouldn't say they were publishing-worthy, but they were definitely better. And then one day I wrote two stories. I remember both of them rather well. I thought at the time it was the first pair of things I had written that were actually good! The problem I encountered was that the computer I had written them on died and I never got them back. I did eventually re-write them. (They're included in one of the anthologies.) Unfortunately, I don't think the rewritten stories were as good as the original ones.
Since then, I've gone on to write several dozen books (though only 30 show up on this website - the other 6 are waiting for my editing). Among those that I wrote are fiction books. The fiction includes science fiction, mystery, and western genres. In all of those books, there are probably several hundred characters, perhaps more. But here's the clincher: I don't know what any of them sound like!
What!?? No Voices!?
I don't know how other writers deal with their dialog. In my case, it's probably closer to something Quentin Tarantino said during an interview once. He said it's like there is a conversation taking place around him and he is just recording it. In the early days of my writing - heck, even in the early 2000s - when I would write a story with dialog, both characters sounded like me and felt like me. So it made dialog easy. Then as I started writing more and more, that general feeling went away. And with it, went the sound of their voices. I couldn't tell you - unless I actually mention it in a story, which I don't think I ever have - what any of my characters sound like. I could probably take a guess based on the character and the situations they get in and how they feel to me. But otherwise, I don't think of them talking when I write the dialog.
So then you may ask, what do your characters sound like? How do you write dialog if you don't have it running through your head? In my case, I get more concerned with the conversation or the action rather than the sound of someone's voice. In the end, I just follow the conversation and type them down. I get wrapped up in the feelings and thoughts of the characters while writing the dialog, rather than what they sound like. I think some writers may need to hear that voice. I may have to in the future. But for now, I don't.