Voice | The View Outside

Ok, so lets get the cake porn out of the way first 😉

This is Orange & Almond cake with Creme Fraiche at The London Review Cakeshop. It had a tiny hint of ginger….mmmmm 😉

Ok, tonight’s session was about Voice….some snippets from my notebook:

Voice is the personality of the narrator, how the narrator (authorial voice) sounds.

The ‘voice’ of a character is different to the ‘voice’ of the author.

New writers worry too much about their voice. If you write with passion, believe what you’re writing and it comes from the heart, your voice will shine through.

Don’t try to imitate other writers, be yourself.

Think about what you’re saying and why you’re saying it.

Voice is difficult to define….but think Roth, Amis and Anne Tyler.

Your voice echoes through everything you write.

Voice is fairly easy to recognise in others work….it’s when you pick up a book and think this is different to anything I’ve ever read.

A very good example of a distinct voice in a new writer is The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. I’ve only read the first page of the piece we were given but immediately I was struck by the unique voice used. Check out the free Kindle sample if you’ve not read it and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m not sure that I’ve developed my voice yet. I can see that most of my 1st person characters all sound like me though lol 😉 Do you feel that you have developed your voice?

Homework for next week: *gulp*
What is the theme of my book?
What is it really about?
What am I trying to say?

Live Chat with Junot Díaz (billmoyers.com)

I’ve spent much of the weekend ‘practicing’ or should that be ‘honing my craft darling’ 😉

Of course, writing is just the same as any other discipline. You wouldn’t be a brain surgeon without years of training would you? And you can’t speak a foreign language without learning it.

So yes, when you think about it, it’s obvious, to be a great writer you need to learn how to write great stuff (unless you’re just naturally goddam talented and if you are….I am soooo jealous lol).

The problem is…..can writing every day make you get stuck in your ways? Will you ever grow if you continue to write in the same style, using the same voice? Where’s the challenge?

Sooooo, this week I’m going to try a little experiment 🙂

I read somewhere recently (don’t ask me where, I read so much stuff about writing lol) that where you write can affect what and how you write. Oh dear, we’re going back to the noise/silence issue again lol.

Ok, well I did take on board everyone’s comments to my noise post, so with that in mind I’m going to write (or do my practice) in 3 different locations throughout the week. You are my witness, if it gets to next Friday and I haven’t been to 3 different locations, shout at me, you have my permission 🙂

I’ve spent all weekend writing at home so we’ll say this is the marker. When I write at home I often struggle, get distracted (the kids, the dog, the cats, the husband, the phone) but I do seem to write in the same style, the same voice……it will be interesting to see if anything changes at other locations….progress report mid week 🙂

Today’s prompt about the lie remains undone…..but, I did manage to finish all the prompts I was suppose to do yesterday. I spent the evening going through competitions, deciding which ones to enter 🙂 Tomorrow’s prompt is the face of tomorrow so it looks like I’ll be playing catch up 😉