Feo Takahari
Auror
I left a comment on an online story, part of which was:
"One thing that disappointed me . . . was that it didn't display much of a narrative voice--that is to say, you didn't have many turns of phrase that seemed uniquely yours."
The author responded to this with an email. In part: "Looking back, I do see what you mean . . . My question is though, how would you think I could improve on this?"
I told her that I didn't really know how to teach authorial voice, and that a lot of people claimed it couldn't be taught, only figured out through experimenting with a lot of styles in a lot of different stories. However, I said I'd ask other writers about how they found their authorial voice, and any advice they might have.
(For now, I'll try to make this a general question, but I may link or quote the specific story if it seems necessary. I'll just note that the problem was only with narration--the characters' voices were both interesting and highly distinct from each other.)
"One thing that disappointed me . . . was that it didn't display much of a narrative voice--that is to say, you didn't have many turns of phrase that seemed uniquely yours."
The author responded to this with an email. In part: "Looking back, I do see what you mean . . . My question is though, how would you think I could improve on this?"
I told her that I didn't really know how to teach authorial voice, and that a lot of people claimed it couldn't be taught, only figured out through experimenting with a lot of styles in a lot of different stories. However, I said I'd ask other writers about how they found their authorial voice, and any advice they might have.
(For now, I'll try to make this a general question, but I may link or quote the specific story if it seems necessary. I'll just note that the problem was only with narration--the characters' voices were both interesting and highly distinct from each other.)