If like me you have craft-oriented blogs on the list of those you visit, you’ll no doubt have seen a lot of posts on voice, defining it, analyzing it, wondering what it is. Sasha White is doing a workshop this week called VOICE: The Magic Behind the Words, and says:
What is it that makes a story stand out? We all want to know the secret, but the truth is…there is no secret. What makes one book stand out from the other, what makes one story memorable isn’t always the complicated plot or the unique characters. More times than not, it’s the author’s voice.
Jordan Summers recently wrote about uncovering one’s writing voice, saying:
Voice is something a reader recognizes instinctively. It’s what makes bestselling authors. Sure skill comes into the picture, too. You have to know how to plot, pace, create settings and characters, etc. But voice is what readers really fall in love with when they’re reading. It’s ‘HOW’ you tell your stories.
Wikipedia defines a writer’s voice as follows:
Writer’s voice is a literary term used to describe the individual writing style of an author. Voice is a combination of a writer’s use of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text (or across several works). Voice can also be referred to as the specific fingerprint of an author, as every author has a different writing style.
Voice is an author’s fingerprint. It’s *how* she tells her stories. It’s what makes one book stand out from another. Yep. Gotta agree with all of that. Now let me take things in a new direction and see if I can fog up your brain the same way I regularly fog up mine!
How often have you heard said that it’s easy to tell a favorite author has written a book by doing no more than reading a few pages, the author’s voice being so unique, so individual, so strong, etc.?
How often have you heard said that editors are looking for fresh new voices?
How often have you heard said that voice encompasses not only an author’s word usage, sentence structure, and other elements of style, but her world view, her favorite themes, her outlook on life?
Final question. Where in the discussion do character voices come into play?
Now onto the tricky brain fogging part . . .
If it’s possible to read a few pages and know a favorite author has written the book, does that mean all her characters sound the same?
I struggle with this subject as I’m writing dialogue, but even more so as my characters internalize their thoughts. When I am deep in their point of view, am I writing with my voice or their voice? Do I inadvertently make the same word choices for one character as I do for another in a different book? I suppose a character’s voice could be considered part of characterization, and it is, but I posit it goes beyond.
If a reader can open a book and tell immediately who wrote it, I can’t help but surmise that the author is using her voice rather than her character’s (or narrator’s) voice. And as important as voice is to readers and editors, I wonder if an author’s books shouldn’t sound as unique as the characters whose stories are being told . . . because there *is* a narrator telling the story, whether a point of view character or an omniscient voice, and it’s one that belongs to that story alone. Isn’t there?
Trust me. In no way am I saying I’ve mastered this or even thought it through completely. I know much of what I’ve written sounds like *me*, the author, and not the character telling the tale. And this is why I’m fascinated by the mingling of character voices in a book. I want a scene in a heroine’s point of view to reflect who she is – her word choices, her rhythm, her outlook on life, even her mood at the time, and not mine. I want the same when I move into the hero’s head. What I don’t want is a reader to say, “Oh, that sounds just like Alison,” rather than to *hear* the characters’ voices. (And I often wonder if blogging makes it easier for a reader to hear *us* as authors in our books.)
What do I know about my voice? I write in incomplete sentences. A lot. I write in threes, explaining, defining, honing – and I leave out the conjunctive *and* in such series. (Note: I am NOT a grammarian and remember nothing about English classes!) I use passive voice on purpose in many situations, and “to be” verbs a lot. I also use dialogue tags more often than not because the flow reads better to me. I’m a definite wordsmith, and love the poetry and rhythm in well written narrative.
So, let’s look at some examples of voice. These tidbits are from something I’m working on, and this project is what has me thinking about what voice means in a whole new way. I have four viewpoint characters. I’ve posted sections from three of them, and will point out how I think an author’s voice and a character’s voice merge.
The boy! What was he thinking? Running like a fox with a mouth full of hen away from the house to the stables!Kitchen shears in one gloved hand, Maria Ballestero spun away from the utility room window and hurried across the floor of red tiles to shoulder open the adjoining kitchen’s screen door.
“Rafael!” she called across the hacienda’s expansive grounds. “Rafael!” But she might as well have summoned the wind because Rafael was not to be seen.
Since the day he had learned to use his two feet, had she not warned him of the need for calm when working near the horses of Esteban Vargas? ¡Diós! The boy was going to be the death of her, if not first the death of himself!
Surely she had been loco, crazy, to think he would stay this evening and help her greet guests and pour drinks to toast the return of Senon, Don Esteban’s son. Rafael was seventeen. Maria well understood seventeen. She understood, too, that between her nephew and Senon Vargas there was no love had, or love to be lost.
Maria lives in Mexico, and English is not her first language. Because I’m writing in English, however, I’ve made her voice more formal, somewhat stilted, as if she’s looking for the right words (though in reality she would be thinking in Spanish). That’s her voice. But in *her* thoughts, *I* have used incomplete sentences along with painting poetic word pictures. Those choices belong to me. The result is, I hope, a combination of Maria’s voice as narrator, and my own.
He was only thirty-four. Not quite ready to be put out to pasture. Though more and more often these days he was feeling a strange creak in his bones. A stiffness in his back after a long one in the saddle. A sharp catch in his hip when he first swung his left leg out of bed.He’d always thought age was more a state of mind than body, but lately, well, time was taking its toll on both. Battling Mother Nature had long been a part of a rancher’s life, but the last four years she hadn’t given an inch.
At every setback, he’d reconnoitered, using the arsenal the family had built up over three generations. But this drought? She was one dried up withered old bitch, sucking the soul from every precaution he’d taken, leaching his strength the way she did flesh from a bone.
And until they got some rain, some sticking rain, some staying rain, she’d continue to purse her fat lips and suction every ounce of sweetness from his spot on this earth. That left Kit feeling like a man spent, a man fresh outta options, walking the edge of a dime.
Kit’s a cowboy, one who happens to have four years of military service under his belt. Here are more incomplete sentences, and several “series of three,” but all those style elements that are my voice are written in Kit’s words – words which would never be Maria’s. Even Kit’s poetry is harsher, more brutal, sharp and cutting rather than flowing. His voice is gritty compared to Maria’s that is thoughtful.
She’d left for college a young girl of eighteen, returned a graduate with her ingenuousness, if not her innocence, intact. Her parents had died four years later, and in the four that followed, she’d had no choice but to toughen up like a cowboy and his gear, seasoned by exposure to the elements, hardened by a life that ran thick through a rancher’s veins.
Now she was the boss who signed his paycheck. And through it all, she’d been the daughter of the man who’d given him a job and a home and a chance when jail time had thrown the long shadows of steel bars across the window to his future.
Cullen Sloan leaned a shoulder into the door frame and remembered the promise he’d made to Doc Mason. To make sure Cassie was taken care of in the event of his death. To keep away the sons of bitches who’d take advantage of her tender heart to get at the part of her they wanted.
Well, hell. What was Cullen supposed to do with her now? When she’d gotten in this bad habit of sizing him up the way a woman sizes up a man, her eyes doing that slow dance across his shoulders, waltzing with a lazy grace down his chest, two-stepping gingerly from his belly to his legs? Wouldn’t Doc be rolling in his grave if he could see his only daughter making a move on his foreman with nothing but a look?
Like Kit, Cullen is a cowboy, but he’s older and has a completely different background. He looks at things with the eye of a romantic rather than a realist. Where Kit’s tone is pessimistic and tired, Cullen can’t be anything but an optimist – and that’s reflected in the rhythm of his voice as he works through solving what he doesn’t want to see as a problem. Again, my voice is present throughout his viewpoint, but the scene sounds like him – not like Kit, not like Maria.
So, bottom line, is an author’s voice more than her style? Is her voice also the composite of all her characters’ voices? It is a bad thing if a reader can recognize an author’s writing without seeing her name on the page? Or is it a good thing because the author tells such a strong tale, even if the reader hears *her* instead of her characters?
There is a NYT author whose early series category work I devoured, but when she moved to hardcover telling a different sort of story, she lost me as a reader. I think with those hardcovers she found her voice, but her voice became so strongly identified with her, she’s the one I heard. I never heard her characters. Even when in her hero’s point of view, I still heard her speaking the words. And I truly think having this happen made me aware of how important it is to let our characters tell their stories in their voices.
Additional Resources:
Julie Leto’s DITCHING “THE BOOK OF MY HEART” for “THE BOOK OF MY VOICE”
Holly Lisle’s Ten Steps to Finding Your Writing Voice
Thaisa Frank’s and Dorothy Wall’s Finding Your Writer’s Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction
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You know, Alison, I think this is the one subject - perhaps more than any other - that can take a perfectly fine, gifted writer and turn them into a quivering bowl of jello. After all, you spend how long creating these beautiful characters, putting them in an intriguing setting, find all sorts of devious ways to make their lives - and their journey to each other - miserable, only to have someone throw in the subject of voice! At which point there is a collective shout of “What the heck is that?” heard ’round the writers’ world as we all go back to our WIPs to see if we have it. And if we have it, how do we recognize it so we can duplicate it in the next book, and the next? And why do we spend so much time sweating over it?
This reminds me of all those exercises in English class where you had to pick apart sentences and identify subject, predicate, nouns, verbs, and so on. That wasn’t my forte - I was much better at putting sentences together and making them work than taking them apart and dissecting why they worked. I think this falls into that category, in a way. It is a lot easier to just write, allowing the words to flow from you to the page, than it is to identify the voice you use to do it. That is one of the great mysteries to me, up there with the whole who-built-the-Pyramids mystery, so I honestly can’t say how to identify voice or how to develop it. I just write and hope that it carries across well. I also try to keep myself inside my characters’ heads and remember that I am representing their worldview, not my own. I think that is what trips some writers up and could be what changed the voice of the writer you mentioned above. Perhaps the writer allowed their own beliefs to creep into the writing, which is what made you hear her voice and not those of her characters. I think perhaps the best way to portray voice is to write whatever our characters want us to write about them no matter how it makes us cringe or goes against what we truly believe. If we can be true to our characters, I think the voice will emerge and carry the story forward.
This was a great post, by the way. Whew! What a subject. It’ll be interesting to see what others think about it.
by Margay July 28th, 2008 at 6:32 amHi, Margay! I certainly didn’t want to freak you out, LOL! I can go back to my earlier books and see a different writer than the one I am now. A lot of the same voice is there, but it took a lot of years and a lot of pages for me to be comfortable with what goes on the page and know that it’s *me.* If you look at Holly Lisle’s list of ten steps, you’ll find she says much the same thing. It takes a lot of writing and a lot of practice to hone your voice. Jordan found hers by writing in multiple genres. But I believe 100% that we have to be true to our characters and tell the story through their voices. Once we’re in their heads, or they’re in ours channeling the words, we can’t help but put them (and not ourselves) on the page.
by Alison July 28th, 2008 at 8:02 amGreat post, Allison. Voice is a tough subject. I also read Sasha White’s blog on Voice. And I think she makes a good point about fear getting in the way and pushing it away. I am at a point in my writing that I am trying to hone my voice, but I also want the characters to have a strong voice. I hope these posts will stick around in the back of my mind when I write so that I can accomplish both.
by Stephanie S. July 28th, 2008 at 11:29 amAs a WFH I had to consciously divorce myself from my voice while working on projects that demanded a writing style that had been preselected by the clients. I know I was successful in both cases, but it was a struggle there for a while. I think it helped me learn how to better write to spec, but also focus more on characters and bringing them to life (versus making them little spokespersons for my personality.)
Another interesting exercise in clarifying voice is writing a character you personally despise and would love to run down in the street in a positive and/or heroic role. It kinda forces you to write from the character’s perspective and not your own, because yours is already emotionally tainted.
Very cool insights, Alison, thank you!
by Lynn July 28th, 2008 at 11:34 amVoice is always a tricky subject. Throughout my time in my Master’s prgoram, I had some professors tell me that I had achieved my own voice well in my critical essays and then one who told me she never saw my voice at all. It is definitely something that takes work to pull off well.
Margay has a really good point about staying in a character’s head to maintain their voice in your writing. I also like Lynn’s suggestion of trying to write a character you dislike in a positive way. It would be an interesting exercise.
by Karin July 28th, 2008 at 12:05 pmWow. This really gave me food for thought. You’ve gotten my brain moving in a whole bunch of new directions in thinking about voice. My most recent WIP is a 3rd person story in 2 POV, one male, one female. I know I made conscious decisions in approaching how they speak and sense the world around them. The sentence construction in their respective POV scenes is also very different. And yet, I think my voice as author also comes through. The question is, does that voice intrude or does it give the novel cohesion?
A balancing act, methinks.
Thank you for this.
by LJCohen July 28th, 2008 at 1:02 pmI agree w/LJ–great food for thought. I also agree w/Jordan in that it IS how you tell the story.
>>her voice became so strongly identified with her, she’s the one I heard. I never heard her characters.
I never actually thought about this as a reader, but i do worry as a writer because I do so much work in first person and my first person voice is usually pretty strong and distinctive. Is it more than style? I’m not sure…I don’t think so. I think that even though your voice can change and grow and even adapt slightly for new genres there is something intrinsic (?) that will carry over.
And FWIW I heard the characters above just fine ;)
by Amie Stuart July 28th, 2008 at 1:23 pmAs a reader, I can see where voice does make a difference in a book. I read this post with interest, because I can see where some writers that I have followed since their initial books, have only gotten better with each book and with gaining a stronger voice - whether it comes with gaining confidence in what they are doing - or just maturing as writers. On the other token I have quit reading some Authors, because they have tried to change their voice to go with the trend or under pressure, and it has not worked for me.
Great topic Alison, looking forward to reading more of the comments.
by Cryna July 28th, 2008 at 2:17 pmThanks for your take and giving me some things to think about. One thing that has helped me try and get inside the character’s head so their voice is heard is to act out the scene or dialogue passage. It also helps me get a better feel for the character’s actions and emotional reactions. Though it’s best done when you are alone; my dog had trouble figuring out his role in that ‘game.’
Best of luck everyone and i’m looking forward to your other workshops!
by Shannon July 28th, 2008 at 2:18 pmI never really realized that as a non-author I have a distinct voice, too. I’m pretty sure I can pick out something I wrote years ago because I would recognize which words sound most like me.
by Jane July 28th, 2008 at 3:55 pmI do think blogs have made it easier for me as a reader to pick up on my favorite authors’ voices. When writing, it’s MUCH easier for me to develop a character’s voice if the character is vastly different from me. When I work on YA, I totally let the characters’ tell their stories. I never really thought about that until now. But on reflection, I see YA is the only area I let that happen with my stories.
by mary beth July 28th, 2008 at 5:06 pmThanks for the workshop. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.
Great post Alison! I learned a lot about the Voice of the author when they write and I now see that I have my own voice when I write. I never realized that and now with this workshop I finally see that. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s workshop.
by Phoebe Jordan July 29th, 2008 at 5:39 pmOh, forgot to say that so far my voice hasn’t taken over and I’ll keep it in check so that my characters are not drowned out.
by Phoebe Jordan July 29th, 2008 at 5:43 pm