Voice. It’s the one thing that will make a writer wax poetic for hours. Do you have a voice? Is it an authentic voice? Is it a consistent voice? Is it a strong voice? Can I lose my voice? (OK, I’m just making fun with that one) Here’s what I know: every book that I’ve ever loved has had a very strong voice.
To me, voice is that quality in writing that makes you feel like the narrator or point of view character is speaking directly to you. When you write with voice, you’re not dictating your story to your reader; you’re engaging your reader in a very lopsided conversation. They’re nodding sympathetically while you talk.
In my second novel, after about ten false starts, I found a voice. I knew the story I wanted to tell in that book. I knew the middle and most of the end. But where to start? I wrote beginning after beginning, because something just wasn’t working. It was horribly frustrating. I wrote in the third person and the first person. I started with description and then dialog, and then action. Finally, because I was so aggravated, I put it down for about a month. When I picked it back up, I could hear the “voice” of my main character. She was tough and sarcastic. This book HAD to be written in the first person.
So what had I been doing wrong?
- I wasn’t writing with any confidence. I wasn’t sure who my main character was. I didn’t know how she should sound. That made my writing tentative and the voice just dried up.
- My writing was very self-conscious because I was thinking too much about the rules of writing. Even as I was trying to compose a paragraph, I would wonder if I was using too many adverbs or if the sentences were too long for such an action-y scene or if I was staying consistent with my themes in my figures of speech. It’s a ridiculous way to write. Nothing flows when you’re just thinking about the rules! Besides, that’s what revisions are for.
- I didn’t trust my readers. I was micro-managing the audience with too much description and too much stage managing. I was inserting my ego into the story ahead of my character’s personality.
As soon as I loosened up, trusted myself, and let the writing flow, the “voice” was there.
It’s not like I’m in the clear, though. For the life of me, I can’t get a good voice when I’m writing in the third person. It’s frustrating for me because there are some stories I think belong in a more distant point of view. So, I keep hoping a narrator’s voice will find me.
As a final note, literary agent extraordinaire Nathan Bransford wrote a fantastic blog about the components of voice. You know how I love a good dissection! It helped me look at my own style. So if you need a great read about voice, check this out.
What about you? How do you define voice? Do you feel like you’ve found your voice or are you still looking for it? What do you do to help develop your voice?
I love that photograph! It’s by ktylerconk and I found this art on flickr.
I think that voice simply lies at the intersection of the author and the story.
Who are you? What is your story? How will you tell it?
It might be easier to achieve, initially, in first person because you have the main character to filter the author through. You think, “How would he or she tell this story?”
It’s a little harder with third person, but most third person, these days is third person close, which helps, I think.
And even in omniscient third, the story has a personality of sorts, doesn’t it?
I think it is that interaction of author, character and story that produces voice, and if the author allows the story and the characters to speak through him rather than draw attention to his writing, the voice will be authentic.
I have a sign over my desk that says, “It’s not about me.”
I love your sign, John.
I was trying to figure out my third person voice problem which had me reading some of my third-person young adult books. To me, the voice in these book feels like a narrator. It seems like the “character” you bring in to tell your story. At least that’s my beginning impression.
“I think it is that interaction of author, character and story that produces voice, and if the author allows the story and the characters to speak through him rather than draw attention to his writing, the voice will be authentic.”…I really like that! 🙂
Kate, this is an awesome post. Yes, I have voice, however, it’s a different one for every novel. But I don’t find the voice, the voice finds me. Literally, I hear my characters speak before I ever start writing.
Great tips.
Thanks, Cat! I hope that your experience is also my experience. Now that I’ve heard one character’s voice, I’m eager to hear more! 🙂
Hi Kate,
Thanks for visiting our ‘zine!
I think you’re absolutely right – voice is the key to any narrative. Without your character’s voice, how can the story be told?
For me, a character’s voice comes as part of the overall arc of the story: what am I trying to convey to the reader? Who is this character that is the conduit for that information? Then I know the voice, or at least can begin to discover it.
–Lacey,
from thiszine
p.s. I love Nathan Bransford’s blog!
Welcome Lacey! I think you’re very right about knowing the conduit who is telling the story. I think that a lot of my writing woes came from trying to write a story without having a clear image of my point of view character.
I need to add Nathan Bransford’s blog to my blogroll! In fact….
It should have been, “It might be easier to achieve, initially, in first person because you have the main character to filter the STORY through.” No edit button.
– I love your sign, John.
Is this where I ask you what YOUR sign is? 😉
– I was trying to figure out my third person voice problem which had me reading some of my third-person young adult books. To me, the voice in these book feels like a narrator. It seems like the “character” you bring in to tell your story. At least that’s my beginning impression.
I figure that it’s not third omni; it’s third close, which means that some of your MC can be mixed in there, and the closer, the more, so to speak.
I figure that the only pure narrator is third omni, in which case the voice comes partly from the milieu and partly from the author. But 3rd close mixes in MC.
In other words (if I’m not beating this to death) Holden Caufield IS the voice in CITR, and his voice would STILL be there if you recast it in 3rd close, and the closer, the more you would hear of him. The remainder would be the tone of 1950s prep school, upper class New York and the author’s take on it. Try to hear THAT for a minute. Play with the last element. Interesting?
But I do go on.
I love this post. You’re so right, sometimes all our fancy-writing knowledge just bogs down a great story. It’s so nice just to write to write and then worry about critiques and editing later. I’m glad you worked out your story!
Thanks Olleymae! It’s a never ending cycle. Now that I figured out that manuscript, I’m struggling with the next. 🙂
My voice is always a little too sarcastic for its own good, but it works for me. I am definitely not the literary descriptive writer — my voice is more the person next door. Finding what works is such an important step…
Amanda, I’m like you. I don’t write in a literary style. If I tried to be more descriptive, I think it would feel forced. Good for you in finding your voice. I love good sarcasm!
Over-thinking is a problem I have too. Not often enough. 🙂
Great post.
Thanks! My best writing happens when I’m able to just relax and let it flow. But, that is way easier said than done!