On May 8, 2013, Elisa wrote, I need help, I have a problem with my voice. My writing voice, that is. I’m a copy-cat. If I’ve recently read a book, say, by Shannon Hale, and then I go to write on my story, I find that my writing style is a lot like hers. If I haven’t read anything recently and have started writing, my writing is really bland. I do actually have my own “voice,” it’s quick, sarcastic and quite funny. (Think Patrick McManus, only, slightly less hysterical.) My problem is, I write a lot of serious stuff, and I’m not sure I like my “voice” very well for that type of tale. And, also, I can only slip into my “voice” every once in a while. I’ll come up with one thing, (say: “Atomic just doesn’t fit those cinnamon jawbreakers. No sir, Atomic just doesn’t do them justice.” Excerpt from one of my “try-out” stories, called “Ode to Atomic Fireballs.\u201d) and then I come up with a whole string of them and mold them into a story. My problem is this “Voice” strikes at the oddest times, very rarely while I’m in a position to write stuff down and it never lasts long. In my “Ode to Atomic Fireballs”, my “voice” died out right before I finished the story (It is maybe two pages long) so the end didn’t quite fit. I have a problem and I don’t know how to solve it. Can anyone help?<\/i><\/p>\n
I\u2019ve said this before on the blog. Being able to imitate other writers is good. The ability proves that you\u2019re impressionable. What you\u2019re reading is permeating you, becoming part of you. Someone else\u2019s style may pour out sometimes when it\u2019s not wanted, but that\u2019s a minor problem, easily fixed in revision. The great benefit is that you\u2019re assimilating myriad ways of expression, which, once you\u2019ve mulched them down, will flow out in interesting, flexible writing. This is cause for celebration.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at the beginning of Elisa\u2019s question, which seems to me to be written in a distinctive voice that isn\u2019t sarcastic or especially funny. Here it is again: I need help, I have a problem with my voice. My writing voice, that is. I’m a copy-cat. If I’ve recently read a book, say, by Shannon Hale, and then I go to write on my story, I find that my writing style is a lot like hers. If I haven’t read anything recently and have started writing, my writing is really bland.<\/i><\/p>\n
Do you see it, too?<\/p>\n
The strength of the voice is in the short, snappy sentences at the beginning, followed by two longer sentences and repetition of the word If<\/i> starting the last two. Plus, the term copy-cat<\/i> has power. Elisa, I don\u2019t know if you thought about voice when you wrote the question, but it\u2019s there, and it isn\u2019t bland.<\/p>\n
If you want more of the quick, sarcastic, funny voice, which you liken to Patrick McManus\u2019s, I\u2019d suggest you study his writing. How does he get his effects? I\u2019ve never read any of his books, but I googled him and then I checked out his writing using the search-this-book function on Amazon. He reminded me a little of Mark Twain, a high compliment. Anyway, he seems to pack a lot of his humor into his verbs, so I\u2019d look at them in particular. Then try writing with him in mind, imitating on purpose. The goal is to have the funny voice always available to you.<\/p>\n
Mostly when I\u2019m writing fiction, I\u2019m not concentrating on voice. I’m focusing on my characters and what they\u2019re thinking and feeling, which will lead them to act or to speak. Basically I\u2019m trying to get out of the way so my story can tell itself. I want my readers to lose themselves and not to be pulled out of the narrative by the antics of my voice.<\/p>\n
Same thing when I\u2019m writing this blog. I want you to be concentrating on the meat of what I\u2019m saying, not on my language.<\/p>\n
I do think about smooth and lively writing, decent writing – about varying the lengths of my sentences, about not starting more than two sentences or two paragraphs in a row with the same word, about not repeating sentence structure, one sentence after another. An example is a string of sentences that are two independent clauses connected by and<\/i>. Another example is a succession of sentences that also have two independent clauses connected by but<\/i>. In the first case, I\u2019ll break some of the sentences into two shorter ones. In the second, I\u2019ll sometimes start with Although<\/i>. Or I\u2019ll use however<\/i>, just to avoid monotony.<\/p>\n
And since I\u2019ve been writing poetry, I\u2019ve become more aware of the sound of my words, like more<\/i> and aware<\/i> have the same ending sounds. I could have written more alert to<\/i> instead of more aware of<\/i>, but I like the similar sounds. I often go for alliteration when I can. But I never sacrifice clarity for euphony. Clarity trumps everything else.<\/p>\n
When I deliberately create voice, I\u2019m generally writing dialogue. For example, Masteress Meenore, the dragon detective in A Tale of Two Castles<\/i> and Stolen Magic<\/i>, peppers ITs sentences with fifty dollar words. There\u2019s also a cadence to ITs speech that I fall into. The ogre, Count Jonty Um, says little, and what he does say, he expresses economically. When I\u2019m writing his speech, I trim away any unnecessary words. His vocabulary is excellent, and he\u2019s by no means stupid, so I may throw in a big word here and there. But not many words anywhere.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t mean to suggest that there\u2019s anything wrong with a quick, sarcastic, funny voice. I just don\u2019t think you should strain for it. My guess is that it pops out when it\u2019s needed. And the less noticeable voice (not bland!) may be what\u2019s needed to push your story to the fore.<\/p>\n
Here are four prompts:<\/p>\n
\u2022 As I suggested to Eliza above, try imitation on purpose. Read a page or two of a book you love. Analyze it if that\u2019s helpful. What is this writer doing? Long sentences? Short ones? Paragraph length? What is the tone? Action-packed? Reflective? Funny? Now, go to a story you\u2019re working on. Rewrite a page in that voice.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Do the same with another writer.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Do the same, if you haven\u2019t already, with an author who wrote at least fifty years ago. A hundred years ago. Out of curiosity, I once compared Jane Austen’s style with Charlotte Bronte’s, whose work came later. In particular, I wondered which one used longer sentences. The answer surprised me. Check it out!<\/p>\n
\u2022 Retell a fairy tale, concentrating on varying your sentences and paying attention to the sounds of your words. Work in assonance, alliteration, repeat end sounds. Include dialogue. Give Snow White, for example, a different way of expressing herself from the evil queen, the hunter, a dwarf.<\/p>\n
Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On May 8, 2013, Elisa wrote, I need help, I have a problem with my voice. My writing voice, that is. I’m a copy-cat. If I’ve recently read a book, say, by Shannon Hale, and then I go to write on my story, I find that my writing style is a lot like hers. If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[73],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions\/338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}