We all wear different hats. At one moment, I can be a dad, at another, a dreamer in the vastness of the universe, another moment a lover sharing his feelings with his soulmate. Every hat has its own voice. In the same way, a writer will find many voices, corresponding to the head space he or she is in for a particular story, or even scene. These voices will have elements in common, based on the thought and language patterns of the individual, but also different based on the situational factors. All of these drive the writer's voice, and that voice is a dynamic, living entity. It can only truly emerge when the writer can let go of the "sentence constructor" hat, where the writer is so focused on technique that there is no room for the other hats to be worn.
My own "voice" depends a lot on what I am writing. Doing a first-person story about a garbage man would have to be quite a bit different than a first person story about a psychologist. The fact that I am neither requires that I modify the "voice" to fit the narrator. Even in third person stories, the audience for a romance novel (not that I would attempt one) is not the same as the audience for an adventure story. Obviously, Forrest Gump's voice isn't one that can be used repeatedly, for example. But it certainly worked.
Ha, I have been a forum rat for over ten years now, various places... and in that time the one thing I can truly say I've learned is how NOT to get drawn into endless, useless internet fights. Unless I want to. Sometimes it's fun.
If my "style" tag is misplaced, feel free to whack me with an inflatable bat. Anyways. Do you guys have different writing voices for your different stories? I was surprised to discover I do. It seems that my protagonists dictate how their stories are told -- my vampire is an enormously happy individual, and so whenever I write about him I find myself using a much more informal tone, sometimes coming close to breaking the fourth wall. I haven't crossed that line yet, but he hasn't made it necessary yet. When I'm writing my fantasy thingy, I notice myself being much more concerned about having a professional tone to my writing - no smiles, no cheating, this is is a serious situation. My protagonist there doesn't seem to have a lighthearted bone in his body, so he demands everything written about him be perfect. Naturally, I find it more difficult to write this story well, because I can't/won't allow myself any room to play. Does your voice vary from story to story?
Yep. Definitely. It's not necessarily based on the protagonist, but whatever it's based on, it changes.
More in tone than style. The style will accommodate the tone for sure, but I do things a certain way and I don't usually shake that from book to book. I'm slightly kooky and that comes through even with a bitter tone.
Definitely! Even when I write in related genres the voice may vary. Sometimes it's because of the character, sometimes due to the setting or the theme.
This is what I struggle with the most, especially in first-person. My main characters sound almost exactly the same. Granted the setting and theme might be different, but sometimes it feels like they're the same character in a different scenario.
I find this to be true in my case as well. The character's voice is the character's voice, but I definitely have ways of doing things, ways of showcasing that character's voice, that are consistent throughout each of my works. Essentially, one could probably read all my works and know they're by the same person, even if the characters and their voices are different.
I don't think the way the story is told through the protagonist generally sums up a writers voice. They are two different things. I remember Stephen King saying that your writing tends to be varied and influence by other factors (like what you're reading at the time) for a while, but over time your writing voice will develop and become the standard. Maybe you still haven't found your voice and you're mistaking your protagonist's personality as your voice.
That is a very interesting (and true) insight. Now that you've said it, I think that might very well be what I'm doing -- mistaking my protagonists' personalities for my own voice. Perhaps it's the medium influencing me as well - I seem to have a more steady voice across varying roleplays than I do in my own solo prose, since that's where my practice had been prior to joining this forum. Either way, one thing is clear: the answer lies in writing more! Practice, practice, practice.
I think what the OP is referring to is more like the tone of the story, or maybe the characters "voices", not the voice of the author. The last one is kind of your fingerprint as an author, the tone on the other hand can change with different projects.
Well, yeah, that's pretty normal. Obviously different characters are going to change between projects, otherwise you're just writing the same character in a different story. If you find you're doing that then it's most likely because that character is a representation of your actual self.
I do, but the differences are only obvious when describing what my characters see, hear or think. What I often do is letting the disposition and mindstate of my character seep into a narrative. For example, where a brick wall would be described in the chapter of one char as "a brick wall" in that of another it might be "a pitiful and dull collection of stacked bricks". It's a simple example ofcourse, but I tend to write as much of the narrative through the eyes and mind of my character. When describing things from an objective stance, without this character being actively involved in it, I find that my writing often does have some similair patterns and style. In a way this is logical, and if the style of writing was the same for each character I would think that either ones characters aren't very diverse, or one doesn't try to get into the head of characters as much, which does not have to be a bad thing ,mind you.
I've been writing less and less on the book I've worked on for almost three years, not because I don't know the story or feel less motivated to finish it, but simply because I feel like I'm at a loss of words. I have a folder for each of my eight PoVs and swap between whom I'm writing regularly, but currently I'm struggling to find my voice to any of them, I find myself swapping back and forth three or four times before I settle on one to write on that day, even then I'm having issues getting the words out. I do know how the story of the first novel will end, and the direction I want most chapters to go in, so that's not the problem either, it's just I can't get any of it down on the page, and if I try to keep going and 'force' it, it seems wrong and an utter disaster... I've been trying to swap, as I said, to keep the voice 'fresh' and keep a constant change to make it more interesting to me as a writer, but it doesn't help me any. I've been trying to read a lot more than I usually do, but that haven't helped either... I simply feel burnt out. Anyone else felt like this about any of their writing projects? I've heard that taking breaks can help, a month or so, or something like that...but I'm not sure I can, I'm always meddling with world building, characters, history...there's always something to do. Then when it comes to working on the actual book and chapters, I feel burnt out. I don't think it's because of the world building and all that, because to be fair, that work has dimmed down, and it's never really been a problem. So what's your experience on this? How did you deal with it? Any tips?
Wish I could help you, but I'm in the same boat as you. :[ My problem is that I probably have way too many stories, and some are almost exactly alike via characters and the plot sequences. I guess my advice here is to trim down on the stories, see if you can't merge the things you like from all your stories together for one stronger tale. Put the rest away for a later date. Hope this helps some.
I know how that feels. My tactic was to trudge through the garbage writing in order to get something down on paper. Upon rewriting those sections of rubbish is when I discovered that "voice" again. I'm not sure if it fits your particular story, but I second Link the Writer on trimming down the stories. In my grand work (haha grand in my mind at least) I had three main characters and far TOO much world building. All of my critics I got to read it suggested knocking most of it out. I went down to two characters and took away a good deal of tedious detail. The result was a much more interesting, better written work that I am proud of. It also left me with a significant portion done for an additional novel
Have you tried writing a new book? I saw in an interview with an established author that they can have upto ten books on the go at any one time. I was in exactly the same position but writing a new story almost cleanesed me of the first allowing me to see in more clearly when I revisited it. Sometimes a book just takes years and thats that.
The piece of advice that helped me most is this: the first draft is simply you telling the story to yourself. No one is going to see your first draft but you (unless you decide to show it to others), so what does it matter if it's crap? No one expects their first draft to be published. The first draft is always crap. It's supposed to be crap. If everyone wrote their first draft perfectly, it wouldn't be called a "first" draft! So first, stop worrying about it feeling like an utter disaster. Because they're fixable. They're edit-able. But you can't edit a blank page. Second (fun fact: my iPad autocorrected "second" to "scone" ), maybe just having a plan for how it ends isn't enough for you. I was in the same boat as you once. I'd get six or ten chapters in then hit a wall. I either didn't know where to go next, or my creativity would disappear, so everything I put on paper felt wrong. So I took the creativity out of it. I started planning my stories beforehand, writing a short synopsis for each chapter before I started working on my first draft. That way, when I sat down to write every day, I knew exactly where I was going with it. And since I stopped caring about writing that perfect first draft, I never hit a wall while writing. Third, I wouldn't worry about having your voice right now. Like you said, you had it once. You just aren't feeling it right now. That's okay. Focus on finishing the first draft first. Get the story down. Once you finish, it should be easier to switch that voice back on and edit your first draft until it's "you." For me, I haven't had my voice in months. Months! Part of me has been worried I won't be able to find it again. But it's there, somewhere. And now that my first draft is finished, I can focus on finding it again. Sort out your priorities. Your voice shouldn't be at the top of that list right now. Your fist draft should. Then your major plot editing comes next. Then your voice. Writing is a long process. There are writes and rewrites and re-rewrites and edits and beta readers and more edits. So throw perfectionism out of the window. You won't get far if you can't move forward because of the fear of not being perfect. I doubt any writer (even the world renown ones) writes a perfect first draft. Just write. Perfectionism comes later.
I agree with Lea Brooks. Follow her advice. The other thing that I'd like to add is this: do something fun just before you sit down to write. Whether it be listening to a soulful song, spiritual uplifting music, to a comedic radio show. Could be your favorite episode of Frasier (which I highly recommend . . . the guys are idiots . . . intellectual idiots). The other day I read a posting by someone on this forum who said that she listened to music to help her write a particular scene. Because I think you are obviously overwhelmed, but can't stop writing no matter how hard you try, don't tackle the whole project. Zero in on a scene. And stick with it. Before you attempt to rewrite or embellish the scene, listen to appropriate music. And above all, don't be in a hurry. Allot enough time for the music to soothe (or agitate) you, depending on the scene you're working on, then proceed. I get the feeling you're pushing too hard. As if you're trying to meet some arbitrary deadline. Work in moments. Forget about next week or next month. Forget about what you haven't already accomplished. Remember, work with ONE scene. Send another posting and let us know how you came out of this fog. I'm be interested to know.
I 100% agree. First draft is just building the canvas. Put the parts together, word after word. Don't worry about "art". Then, in subsequent drafts, you add the colors to the canvas.
I'm trying to only write in an active voice (barring situations where passive is mandatory) and it doesn't work. It just feels off, and I'm pretty sure I hate it?
Passive voice can be done well. Passive voice is a problem primarily when authors fall into it inadvertently, without realizing it. If you choose to write in that manner and can do it effectively, great.
