Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Your old voice

Tip of the Day: check out this post at Literary Rambles. Not only are they a fan of "tips" as well, but this post has an interesting discussion of rewriting scenes from different character's perspectives to nail down the voice. Sounds like a good idea!

If you read agent and editor blogs at all, one of the most popular things they talk about looking for in a novel is the "voice" of the author.

We've talked about it a few times here. About what makes voice specifically. No one can seem to define it, but everyone has an idea of what it is. Basically it's how the author tells the story uniquely...using a combination of lots of tools from description, dialogue, character development, and everything in between.

I'm assuming some really smart person out there gave it the term "voice" very carefully. Because not only does it relate to how the author tells the story, but also just like your actual voice, when you age it seems to mature.

As I'm editing some old projects, I've found my voice has changed a bit. It's a bit more serious, a bit darker, and a lot deeper. And never one to enjoy a high-pitched voice, I guess that's a good thing!

But it is interesting to reread old material to see how your voice has matured. It still sounds like you...but yet it doesn't.

--Emily, Miss Finding Her Voice All Over Again

Picture found here at http://www.smcubedconsulting.com/2011/02/finding-your-voice/

2 comments:

DeenaML said...

Oooh, really good point, Em! I am interested in maybe revising my 2nd ever novel attempt and I wonder how different my voice is....

Kate Fall said...

I think you're right. I think my natural voice has slowed down a bit over the years. In my case, that's probably a good thing!