Comments on: Developing Your Writing Voice

By: A Mom's Choice

A Mom's Choice — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:16:13 +0000

Great article for any writer. Keep up your great posts.

By: The Procrastinating Writer

The Procrastinating Writer — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:01:56 +0000

@Andy Bee I apologize for not getting back to you yet. I am traveling right now. If you’re interested in submitting a guest post, check out this post on the criteria: http://procrastinatingwritersblog.com/category/guest-post-guidelines/

Then shoot me an e-mail with your article suggestion. Thanks!

By: Andy Bee

Andy Bee — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:17:21 +0000

Jennifer

Would love to help – have emailed you requesting details.

By: The Procrastinating Writer

The Procrastinating Writer — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:04:12 +0000

@Andy Bee Thanks again for the great tips! Have you ever considered writing a guest post for this blog? I’d love to have one from you!! If you want to, e-mail me: jennifer@procrastinatingwriters.com.

By: Andy Bee

Andy Bee — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:30:31 +0000

I hit a crisis of indecision with my first novel (almost completed now) where I couldn’t work out if it would be better written as a First-Person (it was in Third Omniscient).
So I experimented and re-wrote the first chapter from First Person POV. It was hard, but it taught me that what had seemed to be an obvious change just wasn’t right in this case.
But it was greeeat practice!

Do it, try it! If you don’t like it, what’s one small step backwards? No-one’s looking!

Even Wellington knew when to give ground.

By: garridon

garridon — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:35:21 +0000

Reading widely is also a fantastic way to be exposed to different techniques to further develop voice. I’m on a reading list on a message board, and I’m surprised that I’m the only one who is all over the map with my reading. Everyone else seems to stay within the confines of one genre and doesn’t venture out. For my WIP, I made the decision to go with omniscient viewpoint. If I’d only read within the genre itself, I’d have never know there was a viewpoint outside of first person!

Be willing to experiment. I’ve now heard far too many times people refuse to try something because it goes outside common wisdom. I remember Jim Butcher saying he’d been writing books in third, and it wasn’t until he tried first that he found his voice. I’ve always written in third but the story needed omniscient, so I tried it. In truth, I probably should have tried it years ago, but I kept hearing the common wisdom of “Don’t use it. You’ll never get published” and “No one publishes omniscient any more” (not true–that narrow reading list problem rears its head), so I just didn’t even think of it. The greatest thing for me was a workshop where I tried all the different viewpoints and variations of them. It allowed to really experiment and push the boundaries to see what worked.

By: The Procrastinating Writer

The Procrastinating Writer — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:02:29 +0000

@CathrynG Hmm…let me do some research and I’ll get back to you. I’m really not sure of the answer.

By: CathrynG

CathrynG — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:40:40 +0000

These are great suggestions, worthy of printer ink so I can put them in a visible spot.

I’ve read a bit about this, but am not clear, how does one’s voice emerge in fiction, with the clamor of character voices?

By: The Procrastinating Writer

The Procrastinating Writer — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:17:33 +0000

@lisabirch You’re absolutely right. Well said.

By: lisabirch

lisabirch — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:13:42 +0000

For years as a journalist, i didn’t have much of a voice or personality. Straight news reporting/writing was a bit voiceless. You identified the who, what, when, where and why and a few details and that was it. But the more I got into writing feature articles, the more my voice developed. Reading other people’s work constantly helped me to spot the voice or personality that resonated with me (and others) and then push myself to trim and polish my own voice to take on aspects of the voice that appealed to me…WITHOUT losing my own tone and flair. The key is, use what’s inside. it’s the best voice, because it’s natural. Let it come out naturally, then add elements of what inspires you from other people’s work you read.