Voice

I want to talk about voice... again.

Voice is a difficult 'thing' to grasp. It is how the narrator speaks, how the characters think and how they speak. But every voice is different and this is what makes our jobs, as writers, harder.

By all means, have a narrator who is completely detached - by this I mean imagine a camera following the character and they report what they see.

But it isn't easy to write a voice and stick to it.

At the moment I'm writing in the voice of a character. First person past tense is not easy. I'm a third person kind of girl and writing in first person, for an entire story, is difficult and brain racking. Add into that I decided my character would be American. Do you know what that means? Using American terms and spellings: closet, drapes, customized, color, judgment, pasteurized. Being an English person who is trying to write with American spellings and terminology...

It's killing the editor inside of me. I still don't know if I should use 'cup' or 'mug' and I won't know for a while.

But first person texts are where voice is more important. It is one of the most important things. With a poor voice, your story falls apart. Keeping up the consistent voice, is even harder.

But it is doable.

Happy Writing.