Can we talk about voice again?

[Peat]

Writers can certainly change voice, but how much is debatable. I think I can change mine, but I also think there is a base pattern to my voice. For good or ill, I have voice, LOL.

Using voice as a “judge” for writing is dangerous, you can miss some great stuff. I tend to find I need to give an author fifty+ pages if their “voice” is much different from something I was reading previous. This makes critiquing short samples difficult, and why I never take comments on voice seriously unless someone has read a lot of pages.

Now, crappy writing is something else entirely. Crap writing can be an instant judgment, LOL.

I should also note I once changed voice enough switching to a different character that my editor told to me cut it out, so I backed off, LOL.

YMMV but I've found it by far the most reliable guide I know. I very rarely enthuse about the times I decide to try and force my way past an annoying voice and even less rarely regret the times I read stories based on voice alone.

Besides, everyone's gonna miss some great stuff come what may - simply not enough time to get it all. As long as its place gets taken by something else great, I find it best not to worry about it.

I also think its best to talk about change as a spectrum rather than a binary thing. I think pretty much every writer can throw their voice at least a little while still feeling natural, particularly those who write multiple characters in close PoVs. The question is how much they can throw it. Tom Holt seems to have an astounding range. David Eddings seems to have an incredibly narrow one, although maybe I wouldn't think that if I'd read High Hunt.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Change is certainly a spectrum, and so much depends on definition it’s difficult to discuss. What voice isn’t even a hard definition that can be pinpointed and talked about the same by two people.

 

[Rkcapps]

I really resonated with that article, Chessie2. Thanks for sharing. It has been my experience of reading. Most commonly, Terry Prachett breaks the rules in a way his voice is clear and I can't help admire him for it.

 

[pmmg]

I think I have a fairly distinctive writing voice, which in fact is quite different from my forum posting voice Being aware of it, I have worked to cultivate a bit. But mostly, it just comes out naturally, and I might enhance it a little in a rewrite. I fear I may be like Skip, cause I get dinged on punctuation and m-dashes and ellipses a lot, and I don't think I have ever used a semicolon that someone did not complain about; and then commas... But, I've come to accept that its just what I got. I try to make it perfect but there are too many pauses and fragments in my prose to do so.

So far though, I cant say it has helped me very much. Most of my stories do not get published and win the contests, and my long story will probably never see the light of day. What can you do?

I wish knew how to explain voice, or better yet, teach it, cause I would put a shingle on the door and start teaching it, but...I don't think I've quite been able to define it as yet. Seems a little abstract in that regard.

I notice when I read that many authors have what I might call just a standard literate kind of voice, which is not very distinctive and does not by itself work to draw the reader in. In fact, I think that it seems part of the goal with that voice to tell the story and go by unnoticed, so the story gets all the attention. It certainly works, cause this is most often what I read. Sometimes I do encounter writers who have a very strong voice and I usually pay more attention to it just to see what I might learn about it.

I don't know, if at this point I can change. I feel the voice I write in is too much with me, but maybe it will fade in time. I don't feel like Svrtnsse, where it was something I keep cause I am young and foolish and don't know any better. I don't feel like a beginner writer, so I think the voice will likely stay. Who knows?

Now if we had a forum topic of the horrible tricks our brains play on us, then I would have a lot to complain about. I often cannot believe the number of words I leave out, or misspell...I fear I can no longer trust anything I write to be what I actually though I wrote.

 

[Peat]

Speaking of voice, this article touches on it (and other things) really well for my money - When We Try to Sort Writers Into ‘Plotter’ or ‘Pantser’

 

[Heliotrope]

Now if we had a forum topic of the horrible tricks our brains play on us, then I would have a lot to complain about. I often cannot believe the number of words I leave out, or misspell...I fear I can no longer trust anything I write to be what I actually though I wrote.

Please start this thread.

I just wrote a scene where an entire museum disappeared into thin air leaving nothing else behind but a pit of dirt and my amazing crit partner who I love and is the best in the world totally missed it.

I was like....wtf. How could I go so wrong?

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Who said you went wrong? Readers will always, always, always miss things, which includes professional editors... see Brandon Sanderson’s twice cracking door. As a reader, I’m to the point that I (try) to never assume the writer didn’t tell me something, because I realize my puny human brain will zoom right over things that should be super obvious. The writer can’t take the blame for everything, LOL.

Me: I was really surprised when I discovered John was gay on page 455.

Other: Dude, John was making out with Randy on page 2.

Me: No shit? My bad.

Please start this thread.

I just wrote a scene where an entire museum disappeared into thin air leaving nothing else behind but a pit of dirt and my amazing crit partner who I love and is the best in the world totally missed it.

I was like....wtf. How could I go so wrong?

 

[Heliotrope]

But Randy could be a girl's name......

Or maybe he was just randy.

 

[skip.knox]

Randy the Just!