On Writing: Voice

[sijopunk]

This is tempting me to set up a Writing Exercise where everyone tells their own version of a specific scene, each using a different voice and/or POV. But I think people might be suffering a bit of craft fatigue.

I was going to suggest this for the "mirror scene." It's an idea that new writers often reach for (I totes did this with my first two attempts at a novel), but it's also a scene that could be really powerful if done well. And, since everyone's writing the same scene and the scene stands in isolation, it won't have the clunky, awkward feel that it would have on the first page of a Romantasy novel.

 

[AG31]

But narrative voice is also important beyond first person. It says a lot about the narrator.

I totally agree that a narrative voice is important beyond first person, but not because it says a lot about the narrator. That's like saying a painting says a lot about the painter. The voice can be a feature of a story in its own right, is it terse like Hemingway? Does it display a love of words like Elizabeth George or Ruth Rendell? Does it disappear so that you forget that you're reading a book? I love that aspect of a book, but I don't think of it as revealing anything about the author. I don't think an author should be present in our minds when we read a story. The narrator, yes, not the author.

 

[StillStunned]

I predict that some time tomorrow afternoon I'll have forgotten all about it.

Just five minutes ago I had an idea for another "On Writing" topic, and now it's gone. If I ever find my authorial voice, I suspect it will include a lot of "You know, the thingy, the... the thing. The thing. With- Wait, what was the subject?"

 

[sijopunk]

If I ever find my authorial voice, I suspect it will include a lot of "You know, the thingy, the... the thing. The thing. With- Wait, what was the subject?"

Story to be released on 4-20

 

[anthrodisiac]

Just five minutes ago I had an idea for another "On Writing" topic, and now it's gone. If I ever find my authorial voice, I suspect it will include a lot of "You know, the thingy, the... the thing. The thing. With- Wait, what was the subject?"

Our narrative vocies are very similar

"Then the, uh, the um... The wet thing? That thing, kinda blue, but not always? You know, you find it... Oh, water! Then the water fell. That was it."

 

[crookedletter]

Just five minutes ago I had an idea for another "On Writing" topic, and now it's gone. If I ever find my authorial voice, I suspect it will include a lot of "You know, the thingy, the... the thing. The thing. With- Wait, what was the subject?"

Our narrative vocies are very similar

"Then the, uh, the um... The wet thing? That thing, kinda blue, but not always? You know, you find it... Oh, water! Then the water fell. That was it."

"Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way." - Steve Martin

 

[Soixenta]

My series Mage & Moonshadow has two point-of-view characters: the prologue is told (mostly) from the 3rd person perspective of Jenny, a young homeless girl who deals with a demon in her head; and the main story is narrated by Ted in first person, a young and slightly ditzy mage who uses her crystal ball to watch her hunky neighbour under the shower.

So a sample from Jenny's point of view:

Time to move on. Jenny didn't care. That's what life was: always moving on, being told to go away. At least she had a sandwich. So she adopted her invisibility slouch again and shuffled along. Down the street, round the next corner where there was a bench.

It was empty. It usually was. There was no reason for anyone to sit there in the noise and fumes of the traffic, not anyone with anything better to do or anywhere better to be. Even the wind seemed to pass it by. It might have been made for Jenny. She used to sit there with Tally, when they'd just run away together and found themselves in the city. Now Jenny sat there by herself, not bothering anyone but herself.

And one from Ted's:

It was icy outside. Cold enough for my breath to frost before my face, and I regretted not changing my skirt for trousers. At least I hadn't taken off my knickers earlier.

With a promise to myself that I'd revisit the memory of Marcus's scent when I came home, I shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat and began to walk. It was dark already, with a hint of fog in the air that gave the lights a slightly ghostlike appearance.

The moon was waning in the sky. Moonfae might be more reasonable to deal with than Shadow Demons, and not as strong just now. But I'd have to summon one. I could find a Shadow simply by looking carefully.

It didn't take long. Just a matter of finding a dark alley -- plenty of those, this late in the year -- and scanning the corners. There! a patch of black that didn't fit the natural contours.

Jenny is a runaway, but she went to school and she is not stupid. Her voice is not simple. She uses words such as "texture" when thinking about her sandwich, and wraps it "almost reverently", because the sandwich is the focus of all her attention. But elsewhere she is just a homeless girl dealing with life on the streets, with thoughts like this:

Fuck. They'd been scared alright, that snooty bitch woman and that fresh-faced cunt of a kid. Seen her, really seen her, and they'd shit themselves.

Ted though was trained by a very strict mistress and she has the courtesy title of "Doctor" from her job. So her voice is more flowery, but also a little carefree sometimes because of her sheltered upbringing:

A monk called Walther von Eschenbach -- not related to Wolfram, and writing four centuries later -- had phrased it more elegantly in the German original, in a pamphlet called Die Demonen vom Something or Other.

And:

Suddenly something clicked in my mind: the shield protecting the Moonshadow must be caused by the proximity of the two types of demons. Opposites, but acting like identical poles of a magnet. Binding them together was creating a force that pushed outwards.

Well, some analogy like that. Magnets weren't my forte, but it was a picture that worked in my mind.

I do not remember consciously deciding how to write these characters. But I always imagine myself in my characters' lives, and their voice came naturally as I wrote. When I edit, when the character is more fleshed out, I sometimes change a word or two, but it happens mostly in the first draft.

 

[Statius]

I have a WIP; a prologue- 3rd P I use the mirror thing in there. The rest of the story will be 1st P; half or a little more of the story will be MCs pov, the last few chapters will be the love interest 1st pov, and the epilogue will go back to MC pov. All pov changes will end and begin in separate chapters, nothing midway through a chapter.

That's not entirely accurate. I do have a 10k chapter written that has a story inside the MCs narration; tricky to pull off but it worked well.

After all that, I prefer 1st pov myself; being ADHD I like the restriction of it; it forces me to be disciplined, you can't wonder off, so to speak, a whole lot in 1st. It also forces me to really get to know my MC extremely well, which is also kinda important .

 

[anthrodisiac]

Unless I'm deliberately trying something different, I suppose I default to my own voice for narration. Which is probably either laziness, or prioritising story over form.

Or you just have a voice that works well for telling stories in the way you like. Nothing wrong with that.

I totally agree that a narrative voice is important beyond first person, but not because it says a lot about the narrator. That's like saying a painting says a lot about the painter. The voice can be a feature of a story in its own right, is it terse like Hemingway? Does it display a love of words like Elizabeth George or Ruth Rendell? Does it disappear so that you forget that you're reading a book? I love that aspect of a book, but I don't think of it as revealing anything about the author.

I think a painting does say a lot about a painter, because the painter is the narrator of the painting. It shows you what the painter prioritizes, how they think, what the think the painting is about. I like to view narrators, no matter what POV, as distinct entities relaying a story (not necessarily the author, but they can be), and how they relay the story tells you a bit about them. Narrators are their own characters, whether they're intended to be or not. A painter is just as much a part of the painting as the painting itself, maybe not in an obvious way, but certainly you see their thoughts splayed out on the canvas, echoes of their conscious and subconscious.

I don't think an author should be present in our minds when we read a story. The narrator, yes, not the author.

Totally agree with you, so hard. I mean I agree hard, not that I am hard

 

[Statius]

Also want to say that if I write 1st pov, I have a very strong psychological/ emotional attachment to the character; if 3rd, then it's the story I'm interested, less about the character.

 

[SmilingLez]

My three stories all have a different POV. My first, an internal narrative and by far my favorite. My second, first person POV and my third, third person POV. My free verse poetry follows the same pattern

 

[StillStunned]

Or you just have a voice that works well for telling stories in the way you like. Nothing wrong with that.

Could be. I write stories that I'd want to read, and of course that's influenced by other stories I've read and enjoyed.

This would be interesting to explore: do you adopt a different voice for different genres, and how does that voice relate to your influences?

 

[SkyBubble]

I hear different characters differently and so write them differently (or at least try to).

That's pretty much how I write dialogue. I can hear my characters saying it.