Really, there’s only one way a writer develops their voice.
I never sat down to ask myself, what’s my writer’s voice? I just wrote.
The more you do something, odds are the better you get at it. I’ve got a caveat there! The more you do something and are properly critical of it, the better you get!
My first novel, I found my writer’s voice partway through. And I was so close to it that literally, I couldn’t see any other way to edit it, to write it. Precisely every word belonged there. Precisely every scene belonged there. Of course, I’ve seen a video where a writer finished a 155,000 word novel, and was told by his publisher, “We don’t publish anything over 70,000.”
So he cut at it, slicing out scenes he thought HAD to be there, chopping sccenes of almost everything. And to his surprise, it was a much better novel.
Recently, I started taking my first novel, and… cutting at it. Scenes I’d originally swore that were a “publish/no publish” condition (in other words, the editor wants that scene out, I turn down the contract) I have sliced out.
Because I found a timeline problem. One of my characters gets religion in the beginning of the book, and a few months later is an ordained Pastor, a graduate of a Seminary.
Spot the problem yet? It’s like writing a book where one character gets interested in law, and three months later is in practice as a lawyer. There’s a simple thing called schooling that requires at least 4 years. Although many seminaries require at LEAST a 6 year degree before the student is deemed ready to preach.
Um…. cut out the one big publish/no publish scene.
Once you cut ONE scene you’ve deemed too crucial to cut, then all of them are fair game. And I realised I had a mostly passive cast and plot, just drifting along until two thirds of the way through the book. Then conflict DRIVES them.
Now that I’ve got a few years of writing experience, including some writing for pay experience – the novel suddenly seemed, well, blah. That’s when I realize I’ve got a writer’s voice. And it’s changed.
The points today?
- never assume something in your books is publish/no publish.
- Never search for and practice a writer’s voice. You get it, and it changes.
- Reading critically, anyone can improve their own writing.
