Writer's Voice and Where to Get Yours

Having a hard time finding your voice?

Open up your current work in progress. That's it. Open it up to any old page, or new page--even a page of which you're rather fond--and read it aloud.

Sound like you?
Not, "does it sound like you wrote it?", but
Does it sound like you? Were those words you use in your everyday conversation? If your book is historical civil war they wouldn't be, but how about the tempo, the cadence? How about the character's thoughts? Even delivered with a drawl, a brogue, or sliding off the tongue in french, did you hear yourself in there?

Do you suppose Janet Evanovich is a sarcastic woman? You bet your bippie. You can't write sarcasm like that and not be soaking in it. I think for JE to NOT write sarcasm would sound...dishonest.

Look at that page again. Not your words? Not your thoughts? Ask yourself who you were trying to impress, then stop trying to impress them if you can't recognize your own voice in what you write.

You want a voice? You have one. You just have to be honest about it.

At the first writers conference I attended, I believe it was the author Lynn Kurland told us we should just worry about writing to an audience of five--not to the masses, just to five people. She said we could even pick the people, or envision them, but we only need to be able to impress five people.

Boy, does that take the pressure off, right? Not writing to a million people you need to convince to buy your next book, not even a thousand, just five. Easy breezy.

But guess what else it does. It puts you into a nice intimate little circle of associates with whom you can finally be completely honest. Think a character is a turd? Let another character call him a turd. Let your characters be honest and call a turd a turd. Think a character is going to hell for his morals? Say it. Be bold. Be judgemental. Be biased. Be snide. Be paranoid. But be honest.

Another place you're supposed to be flat out shameful and shameless is at your friendly neighborhood shrink's office. Right? So put your characters on that couch and let them spill their guts. Let them rant.

And when they are all done ranting, throw those ethics out the window 'cause you're a quack anyway, and share their dirty little secrets with the reader. Let the honesty flow, babe. Shout it from the rooftops; whisper it through a hole in the fence.

Spill, baby, spill. And when you're done, you will hear something familiar...the sound of your own VOICE.

Ainsley

Bigfoot and The Writer's Voice

That's right, people. I have found my elusive Writer's Voice. This calls for a toast!

In our early years of writing we are encouraged to watch for it--like Bigfoot. We are told it's out there somewhere. Others have their own proof, and urge us to hunt for ours. They even give us suggestions for bait, the places most likely to find it, where you definitely won't find it. Some even have theories on the best procedures for its care and feeding.

But in the back of our minds we acknowledge it may never exist, or if it does, we likely will never be able to identify it. We pretend to believe. We forge ahead, hoping it will fall in along side us as we go, but we doubt.

Hold on to your marshmallows, campers. I'm here to tell you Bigfoot has been sighted again. I will share with your my proof and you will be believers.

The question of "genre" choice has been bubbling to the top of conversations and loops of late. In fact, on the novelsisterhood loop we were asked what we read and what we write. Harmless question.

Not.

What would you think if your answers to these two questions were not the same? In my case I saw a breakthrough. My next step has been to experiment in another genre and I have blown my own socks off. Within the first 2000 words I realized I was hearing my true voice giving those words back to me. And although I love that other genre like a friend, I have come home.

I will add my own advice to to the voices of those who have also had a close encounter of the third kind. I suggest you experiment with another genre and consider that possibly your first love was not meant to be your true love.

I will continue down this path for a while to see where it leads. Will I visit my friend's home? All the time, I'm sure.

Check the footprints. Are you stalking the wrong animal? Maybe you should look closer at your own tracks. They may lead you to your very own Sasquatch.

Happy hunting!
Ainsley MacQueen, crack shot extraordinaire