Finding Your Inner Voice

If you've been a blog reader for awhile, you'll notice these next few posts are regurgitated posts from about a year ago. Life is busy, but I still want to give you all something to chew on. Here's a post from August 2010 about finding your inner voice.

As an editor, I am very aware of my authors' voices. When doing a line or content edit, I try very hard not to change their words into my words. When I meet with authors, I tell them up-front, "I won't change your voice." Sometimes they look at me like I'm crazy. I'm used to that. But other times, more often, they thank me and we get on with our meeting.

Recently, I had a conversation with my agent. I was feeling unsure of the genre that I've decided to concentrate my time and effort into now. My instinct, before at least, was to write stories that dealt with adult women and their issues - something I know a lot about! But when she poised the question - or request - of writing in a new genre because the women's fiction market was flat, I decided to try middle grade. I didn't think it would be that hard; I've got two youngish boys in my house and a husband who is a big kid himself (sorry, honey, but you know it's the truth.) I wrote a full manuscript (book one in a series) and then a partial for a completely different series. I felt pretty good about the stories, or the potential for each story.

Since those two manuscripts, along with a women's fiction mss, are floating out in editorville, it's easy to doubt my new found MG voice. Is it authentic? Will readers gravitate toward it? Will they realize that an "old" lady wrote it and not some young, hippy chick?

I certainly believe that my women's fiction voice is not the same as my middle grade voice. In MG, my characters say "crap". In my women's fiction, my characters say "shit" or something much stronger since shit is not my favorite swear word. : )

I'm so much more aware of how my boys talk now. Whether it's talking to each other, to my husband or me, or to their friends, their lingo is becoming my MG voice. It's still my voice, but at a much younger age. And who wouldn't want to be younger these days?

Music also helps me find my voice, especially if it's for someone much younger. I listen to Linkin Park, Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Pink, Train...just to name a few.

When my characters seem like real people, my voice comes so naturally. I've created these "people", so I get to live out their adventures. It's way cool.

In whatever genre, author voice is distinct to each writer. Do not try to write like someone else. When you do that, the writing is not authentic. I learned early on that copying (not plagiarizing), but copying someone else doesn't make me sound real.

Do you notice your voice? How do you feel when others (editors or critique partners) try to change your voice?

Oh, and that conversation with my agent, yeah, she told me I had a younger voice. I tend to agree.

Q is for ... Quandary

I'm in a quandary today because I'm not exactly sure what to write for Q. It could be because of these two:

Should I play or should I write? Jack, the older dog, isn't too sure about Hank, the new puppy. Hopefully he'll get used to Hank soon.

I'm also in a Quandary because this isn't working:

Now my cold is pretty much full blown and I feel like I need to sleep 10 hours a day, plus my regular nighttime sleeping. Should I sleep or should I write?


And, it's Spring Break in my house, but we aren't here, so...

Should I hop a plane to a sunny local or should I write?
I think if that were my real quandary, there'd be no question which one I'd pick....write at the sunny local of course!

What's your quandary today?

N is for ... Nemesis

Nemesis (noun): someone or something that continues to oppose you and cannot easily be defeated. Thanks to Macmillan Dictionary Online for that definition.

Almost all stories have a nemesis, that bad guy or thing that our beloved main character can't seem to overcome, get away from, or defeat. One of the most famous of all nemesis of young adult books, I think, is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, aka Lord Voldemort of the Harry Potter series.

The nemesis (either tangible or intangible) is something that the author needs to take into account when starting a story. In writing workshops, I teach that each story should have a story question/problem which should be answered by the end of the book. If a series is written, there can be an underlying problem throughout all of the books which would ultimately be answered in the last book - look at Deathly Hallows in the HP series. HP's problem (nemesis) is finally taken care of.

But what if the character's nemesis isn't a person? What if it is something out of their control? Both Willy Wonka and Oliver Twist use poverty as a nemesis. Think about it? Would the stories have had an impact if both characters had come from the middle-class?

Which nemesis is your favorite?

L is for ... Laugh

Who doesn't like a joke? What about a funny TV show or movie? I think the same for books that have funny characters. You just can't put the book down because you are so engaged with the storyline and the characters. I love when I laugh out loud while reading and my kids say, "What's so funny?"

I think authors who are able to convey those happy emotions are very talented. Susan Elizabeth Phillips comes to mind, as well as Sophie Kinsella, and Emily Giffin.

What book has made you laugh out loud?