A Matter Of Voice

[Velka]

I've read, and skimmed over this thread, and the thing that stuck out was the blurring of lines between character's voice and writer's voice/style.

I'm still discovering my writer's voice, but there are a few characteristics of it that I have identified: prose teetering on the edge of purple, poetics, and lots of dialogue. It's just how I write and tell a story. I also believe, feel free to disagree, that a writer's voice is closer to an innate trait. It's how I speak and how my imagination works and how I naturally put words together to create meaning.

I believe a writer's voice can change organically, much in the same way as my cousin, from Canada, now has a natural sounding British accent after living in London for almost 20 years. I don't believe it is something that can be forced, or even should be, as it would sound off-key and inauthentic (like faking a British accent). I've refined my voice over the years; scraping off unnecessary adjectives here and there for clarity's sake, balancing my love of assonance and alliteration because, while they make me rosy, they usually don't add much to the story. Could I ever assume Faulkner's stream of consciousness voice and make it work? Heaven's no, I don't think like that or tell stories that way.

Character voice is much more malleable. To me, it's putting the reader into the character's mind as they speak and act, a mind presented in a precise, deliberate, and unique way. Different characters have different minds/lives and therefore different voices. This is where you can play with nuance and performance.

If you look at Hemingway as an obvious example, he has a very distinct writer's voice: clear, unadorned, a lesson in brevity and journalistic detachment. His characters, however, all have their own voices within the canopy of his writer's voice. Some are longing and nostalgic, some are subversive and flippant, some are tender and wounded, but all of them are presented with their own identities within his particular style.

 

[Caged Maiden]

So when I began writing, way back in 2001, as a bored-stupid car salesperson at the shittiest dealership on the highway, I had no voice. OMG, I still have a transcript of that horrible novel--printed out on a home printer or something and slammed into a 3-ring binder. The funniest part is that a few years later, I opened it up at some point, evidently, because there are red pen marks in the margins of the single-spaced tragedy. HA! As if a red pen could make dent in the awfulness of what exists on those pages! What was I thinking?

If I had to sum up the "voice" of the manuscript, I'd place it squarely between my 10th grade geometry teacher (in whose class I would fall asleep about every day...that is when I didn't skip it entirely), and a pretentious fourth grader who thinks he's cleverer than his teacher. It's really a travesty, and it wasn't my intent to sound clever or be cheeky, or dull for that matter. I simply didn't understand what story-telling was. I tried to tell a story I thought was interesting, through the POV of a character I felt was unique and compelling, but OH HOW WRONG I WAS! and honestly, I've participated in a number of challenges, critique groups, critters.org, scribophile, and so on, and I've read hundreds of manuscripts for shorts and novel-length works, and I've read my pile of refuse locked in the cabinet of my "Misc. Writing" folder on my computer, and all I can say is that even with experience, and having a good solid understanding of what we like and don't like when we read it...we can still get it OH SO WRONG at times.

That's why I say I'm still learning. I'll always be learning. I may have some skills pretty, but I have many more that are rusty, greasy, or otherwise unfit for showing off. I think the main point of experimenting with voice is to test limits. If all a writer ever does is write one fantasy novel in their best attempt at say, a Tolkein style, and then they rework that one thing, the voice can get muddled in revision. If their next three attempts to complete work is merely turning that work into a trilogy and an appendix for their series, or whatever, they never really get to test their own limits.

In the challenges here, I took it as an invitation to do weird stuff. Maybe because of who my friends were at the time and still, or maybe because I get easily bored and can't do the same thing for any amount of time without either quitting or taking it to some other place. But anyways, I would encourage everyone who feels like they're actively seeking a voice, to step away from any work that's been their main focus, and do something completely different. In fact, since we're talking about reinvigorating the challenge section, I'm recalling my last big challenge I hosted, in which I asked my competitors to rewrite a single passage in a different style. It was really awesome to see folks stretch their comfort level so far, and I couldn't be prouder of what they produced.

Want to know more about your voice? Do something weird. Then follow that up with something else weird that goes in a completely different direction. Then find a person you trust to read them both and see what they think. Ask how the tone and voice of the pieces affected your reader. You might be surprised at the responses you get! I had a serious self-loathing for my repeated failures as a newbie writer about three or four years ago. I didn't like anything I produced and didn't have any confidence. Just a pile of shit I had written but felt no pride in. Anyways, one of my long-standing crit partners, a guy who has supported me relentlessly for four years, told me one day, "Hey, I don't really think this fist fight worked (or something to that effect). Since you're so good at character interactions and dialogue, why don't you turn this into an argument instead?" And I was like, "Wha??? I'm GOOD at something?" It was a really eye-opening moment. Voice comes out best when you're good at something, when you aren't constantly worrying about whether you performed well as a dancing monkey. When you feel in your element. When you don't worry about stuff and simply let yourself go a little.

Ok, I'll be back for more later, because I love this subject. I've got eat, though.

 

[SteveW]

I still remember the first novel I wrote. If you thought yours was awful, Caged Maiden, you should try mine. I hardly bothered with characterisation beyond "He's an angry man" or "She wants to do this or that", I introduced places or groups because I thought they were cool without thinking how they would actually fit in with the world I (thought I) had built. And I blatantly stole ideas from series like ASOIAF and Wheel of Time. I wouldn't inflict the reading of that on my worst enemy.

Since then I would like to think I have matured as a writer, though that remains to be seen. In terms of voice, I have found a way to write that works for me. I have started different stories, in different kinds of worlds and cities, but I have noticed that my structuring of sentence and paragraphs has remained pretty steady in general. An early critique partner I had told me I am significantly better at dialogue than I am at action scenes, so I have worked hard to improve my dramatic writing while at the same time acknowledging that I am stronger at character-based stories. The one I'm working on now is very much character-driven rather than action.

So I guess I'm just repeating what others have said - try different styles and voices until you find one that fits you, then just work at making that one as good as you can.

 

[Caged Maiden]

Oh man, Steve, as much as this sounds like a challenge to out-awful each other, all I have of mine is paper in a binder, so I can't even show the dreadfulness. Well the only solution is to call us both winners here and now, because we're able to recognize the tragicness of those early works and have risen above their torturousness. Well done! We might want to keep these manuscripts a secret tightly hidden behind lock and key, lest we be called upon in the future to release them in a tide of pain upon those who deserve public punishment. In fact, that's not a bad idea. Agents are constantly bogged down in slush pile reading, right? I say we turn America's penal system (I see you're from England, but they don't have enough criminals there to my understanding to properly undertake this task) and turn the incarcerated into slush pile readers! Not only will repeat offenders decrease, but those poor downtrodden souls will be preforming a valuable service--reading horrible manuscripts until their eyes bleed and they adopt more socially acceptable behaviors.

"That's it, asshat! You're going to solitary to do some reading."

"No, please! Have a heart, warden. I won't mess up again. I'll be on my best behavior from now on, promise."

"I've heard enough. Drag his sorry ass out to the 'reading room' and let him think about what an asshat he's been."

"Oh, God, no! Anything but that! Kill me now! Just shoot me and end it! Anything but the query letters and sample chapters!"

"Sample chapters? Oh no, we've got something better in store for you. We got a new batch of college creative writing assignments that teachers want marked up. Here's your red crayon, soldier. You don't even get a pen! Now get to reading, and if you're lucky, we'll let you out for supper. Anymore crap from you, and you'll be dining in the reading room, too!"

Yeah, and rather than waterboarding, which has apparently outlived its usefulness (since I'm not really up on my modern torture methods), we can sell those first manuscripts to the CIA for use in domestic terrorism interrogations.

"You sure you don't know who is planning to bomb the federal building? Smith, hand me back that manuscript. A few more hours of reading Caged Maiden's first book ought to loosen this sorry sucker's lips..."

"Sir, do you think he can take any more? He's green around the gills and looks to be in shock already."

"Oh he'll talk. Just hold him down. They always crack in chapter 7, right after the two main characters break into the palace to discover why the girl's father was murdered, and accidentally kidnap the king while he's fetching his own midnight snack from the kitchen. At this rate, he'll be singing the name of every one of his co-conspirators before they even take the makeshift raft they had time to build while toting around a bound and gagged king, and float down the river into the elf forest. If he makes it all the way to where they meet the elf king and he tells them how the girl is really the long lost cousin of the kidnapped king, we'll know he's telling the truth and really doesn't know who is setting the bomb. That, or he'll BE DEAD!"

"Sir...um...do you ever question whether this is even humane?"

P.S. Like my post if you think your first novel is awful like mine and it might as well be a torture device!

 

[Ireth]

P.S. Like my post if you think your first novel is awful like mine and it might as well be a torture device!

This is giving me flashbacks to the first novel I tried to write, back when I was still using our parents' desktop PC rather than a laptop of my own. It was the most cliche-ridden thing I've ever conceived. Let's make a list... bearing in mind that I only ever got to chapter four in the actual writing process; the rest is just how I'd planned it out.

> Two kingdoms at war; the "good" kingdom was ruled by a white family, the "evil" kingdom by a POC family
> Heir to each respective throne is a Chosen One, destined to come together and save their kingdoms from disaster by fighting to the death on the day of an impending solar eclipse
> "Good" CO, Corin, is not only white, but albino, and ostracized for looking weird
> "Evil" CO, Nedara, has an abusive uncle (the king), and her aunt sends her away from him in secret
> Corin and Nedara each wield a sentient magical weapon (Corin has a shield, while Nedara has a sword) for use in saving the world
> said shield and sword are imbibed with the souls of the two who first began the conflict between the two kingdoms; they haven't been in each other's vicinity for hundreds of years and thus have a lot of emotional baggage to work out
> Corin and Nedara inevitably fall in love throughout the course of the book
> when the fight to the death arrives, both refuse to kill each other and instead want to get married and join their kingdoms to prevent more war; the souls within the sentient sword and shield likewise work out their differences and are freed from the weapons

I mean, yeah, there's some salvageable stuff in there, but really. My favorite part of the story was the fact that the son of the "evil" king and queen (Nedara's cousin) was actually a bastard but didn't know it, so everyone (including him) thought he was the heir to the throne until he found out and did not take it well at all. I still have this creepy mental image of the poor guy lying on his bed, with the equivalent term for "BASTARD" carved into his leg by his own hand. *shudder*

 

[FifthView]

Ireth, that's really not so bad, in bullet form, but as usual, so much would depend on execution.

The white/POC thing might have to go, though.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

This is giving me flashbacks to the first novel I tried to write, back when I was still using our parents' desktop PC rather than a laptop of my own. It was the most cliche-ridden thing I've ever conceived. Let's make a list... bearing in mind that I only ever got to chapter four in the actual writing process; the rest is just how I'd planned it out.

Young pup! You had a hard drive! LOL. One of the few kindnesses of being old is that my first novel in high school is long lost, except perhaps a hidden hard copy... somewhere. I'm quite certain it was a masterpiece, if only it could be found, heh heh.

 

[Ireth]

Young pup! You had a hard drive! LOL. One of the few kindnesses of being old is that my first novel in high school is long lost, except perhaps a hidden hard copy... somewhere. I'm quite certain it was a masterpiece, if only it could be found, heh heh.

Indeed. XD Sadly, that old PC died long ago, so whatever progress I've made on that story is lost too. I do recall printing out the first four chapters or so, but those have been gone for a long while as well.

 

[Nimue]

First novel--if you want to call it that, I'm not sure of the word count, it was very short but it was finished, so something intended to resemble a novel?--was about a magical school, the main character had pretty white hair and pretty white wings and fought some kind of balrog-type race? Jesus Christ, it was the absolute worst, pure boiled cliche, and I'm pretty sure it made no sense at all. I was eleven, though, which is an unfortunate age. Eleven-year-olds probably can't be prosecuted for crimes against literature.

 

[Caged Maiden]

AHAHA! See now, aren't we all working on our voices? What progress we've made!

 

[Heliotrope]

Mine was a fanfic of Luthien Tinuveil.... So basically just copying JRRT's voice.

Had some nice poems though....

 

[Chessie]

Mine wasn't even fantasy. It was a Renaissance style romance set in Florence. I wrote it at 17 and sent it off to a lengthy list of agents and publishers. We all know how that ended. I did write a lot of shorts before that, since grade school but my first actual book was that one and it was freaking terrible.

I still remember my parents sleeping with the printer going off one night while the manuscript printed.

 

[Ireth]

Mine was a fanfic of Luthien Tinuveil.... So basically just copying JRRT's voice.

Had some nice poems though....

Oh, if we're talking fanfic... oy vey. My first fics (thankfully, long since lost to the depths of cyberspace) were a Pokemon fic about Mewtwo, and a LOTR fic starring my first Mary Sue. She was an amnesiac elf-maiden named Erial, who washed up randomly on the shores of the Bruinen, wound up being adopted by Elrond, and joined the Fellowship with him. She had the power to create illusions, kinda along the lines of Luthien or Finrod. I don't recall much about what happened to her, but Elrond wound up joining Frodo and Sam at Mount Doom where they destroyed the Ring. And one of his sons later attempted suicide for some reason I can't recall. And the whole thing was chock-full of completely gratuitous songs (and not original songs, mind you; actual songs written by actual singers with actual albums and stuff). Oh, and Elrond's twin brother Elros was immortal and a captive in Moria, for some reason. Yeah.

It also spawned a sequel, which was if possible even worse. The three Ring-keepers were summoned back to Arda about ten years after sailing to Valinor, because Elros had turned evil and was trying to control the world like Sauron and Saruman before him. Other disjointed plot elements that I barely remember include:
> Elros kidnapping Denethor and holding him prisoner in Isengard
> Grima being a good guy and teaming up with Elrond to help free Denethor
> Elrond's mother also returning to Arda to help fight evil
> an evil Faramir almost burning Galadriel at the stake for being an "elf-witch"
> Pippin and Erial saving Galadriel from the aforesaid burning
> something about the Eagles?

Thankfully, that one died before I could finish it. (Technically so did the original, because I started the sequel when I thought I had the original all planned out but never got to finish writing it. My muse was very wise to abandon me.)

I am cringing in shame just remembering all this. My word.

 

[Nimue]

I found it. For some godforsaken reason I got the password right on the tenth try.

On the winding granite shod path leading to the Meinerass, Palace of Yiridcont, the silver hooves of a solitary horse clicked softly. Soon the horse and rider came into view. The horse was fresh and not sweating, despite the twenty-mile ride to Meinerass. The horse, White Starlight, was strong, white, and had a silver mane and tail and a capacity to run at breakneck speeds. The rider will take more time to explain.

Now there's a stonking great argument against omniscient openings. I'm not even making these names up. Mein ass indeed. The main character is named Alluviia because I read the phrase alluvial plain which is a type of silt deposit and I don't even know anymore.

I couldn't make it further than the first page. Looks like it was only 16k, so definitely not a novel. I'm going to run crying to my current manuscript and try to reassure myself that at least I now know that pATHS CAN'T BE SHOD THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.

 

[Ireth]

I found it. For some godforsaken reason I got the password right on the tenth try.



Now there's a stonking great argument against omniscient openings. I'm not even making these names up. Mein ass indeed. The main character is named Alluviia because I read the phrase alluvial plain which is a type of silt deposit and I don't even know anymore.

I couldn't make it further than the first page. Looks like it was only 16k, so definitely not a novel. I'm going to run crying to my current manuscript and try to reassure myself that at least I now know that pATHS CAN'T BE SHOD THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.

I am so sorry that I'm all out of thanks to give. That... that just... wow.

 

[Nimue]

The worst part is that I made people read it. I think it was just immediate family, but still. Pretty soon after that I began the stage of never showing anything to anyone, which must have really been a blessing.

 

[Velka]

On the winding granite shod path leading to the Meinerass, Palace of Yiridcont, the silver hooves of a solitary horse clicked softly. Soon the horse and rider came into view. The horse was fresh and not sweating, despite the twenty-mile ride to Meinerass. The horse, White Starlight, was strong, white, and had a silver mane and tail and a capacity to run at breakneck speeds. The rider will take more time to explain.

Urrggghhh, this is so making me wish I kept my tween/teen journals. This could have been a page torn from one.

 

[Heliotrope]

^^^^^^^ for me too.

I burned all my journals and poetry when I lost my brain at 14. So sad. It would have been just like that.

 

[Nimue]

Unfortunately, I have almost all of my old, old writing. Like, since age 7. A few stories were journal-based, but I grew up typing them out. So it's all accumulated and haunting my hard-drive as we speak. At least fire is a pretty good exorcism...

 

[Ireth]

Unfortunately, I have almost all of my old, old writing. Like, since age 7. A few stories were journal-based, but I grew up typing them out. So it's all accumulated and haunting my hard-drive as we speak. At least fire is a pretty good exorcism...

I have the original copy of the very first story I ever wrote, back when I was six. Dad found it when he was cleaning out the basement a few weeks ago. I have it in my bedroom for nostalgia's sake. XD