Do you get confused or totally bewildered when you read/hear the comment "voice"?
What is this "voice" other authors and those in the industry keep talking about?
How i understand it, it is the way you put sentences together, the emphasis you put on certain parts of writing, the total overview that is totally "you" whenever you write.
You know your writing is fake when you are trying to emulate someone else, but when you have it right, the words just flow and are all from you. This is your voice.
From Wordplay, K.M Weiland tells us:
"Sometimes an authorial voice is something we consciously produce, but usually it’s just a natural manifestation of our inner voices. Everything we write—whether we’re crafting a text message or trying to mimic a foreign dialect—naturally occurs in our own unique voice."
From her fabulous book 12 point guide to writing romance, Kate Walker says:
- it's your own particular style, the way you tell your story
For more tips visit her blog
How would you describe your "voice"?
Mine is quite intense, i seem to thrive on the characters deepest darkest fears/emotions and making them live/voice them. Yep, my writing it kind of intense but that is where the passion comes from!
Good Question, don't we lose "voice" when we edit out passive voice and all show vs tell?
ReplyDeleteBTW, Kate Walker did a whole series of writing craft related blog posts here:
http://kate-walker.blogspot.com/2010/08/conflict-black-moment-and-hea.html
thanks for that Nas, i couldn't find those craft posts when i put up this post, though i have copy and pasted most of her posts on craft!
ReplyDeleteI think you don't really 'lose' your voice, you hone it. It's still the overall way you tell your story and the words you choose to use.
BTW, not all passive voice is bad!
Hmmm...depending on what genre I'm writing, my voice is different, however, I like feisty heroine and I like to get some humor in my stories, so the 'voice' in my romance novels tends to be somewhere between snappy and snarky.
ReplyDeleteWhat amazes me is that people can actually tell who they're reading by voice. I'm not so good that I can identify authors by their voice. A few I might be able to do this with, but not for most.
Hey, thanks for adding me in your sidebar. Denise is a smart one, isn't she?
ReplyDeleteMaybe I don't understand voice very well (in fact I'm sure I don't) but I find it is when I am REALLY inside my character's head and I leave mine behind. Only then does it come naturally. I also assume that is why my "voice" changes from story to story. When one of my stories comes off with no voice, I think it is usually because I don't know my MC well enough.
ReplyDeleteLois, i don't think you lose it. You just know your characters so well that you are able to talk in their voice. But the way you construct your story, maybe the foibles you use, are your voice.
ReplyDeleteWhen you lose all the passive from your voice that's when you hit your true writing voice. When you get so deep into POV then it's the character's POV. Your painting a world for the reader and not just telling them what's going on anymore. This was a hard thing for me to learn, but once you get it, your almost there to being published.
ReplyDeleteMy voice changes depending on what I'm writing. Most of my writing is very sensual and my heroines are feisty. My hero's are very alpha.