How to develop a strong voice
iVillage: How do you do develop your voice? Is it just writing like you speak?
Writing coach: Yes. Your voice is natural - like how you speak and think. But it changes as you change and depending on the tone of the piece you're working on. A writer's voice should be real, authentic, honest.
iVillage: Honesty is hard for many people.
Writing coach: I think honesty is easy if you believe in the subject. Believe in yourself. But we all know that our feelings about ourselves fluctuate. Finding your voice requires going inward, discovering ourselves and writing about who we are, how we see things.
iVillage: Unless you're writing in the first person, do you still have to keep authorial distance so the narrator doesn't turn out to be unreliable?
Writing coach: I'm talking more about voice than point of view. Voice in fiction is how the character thinks and talks. An unreliable narrator is tricky, and yes, there can be some distance. Voice tells us who is speaking. The best voice is substantive, not gimmicky.
iVillage: What do you mean by 'substantive, not gimmicky'?
Writing coach: I mean that we don't copy other writers, that we try to sound like ourselves, using words, grammar and punctuation that we're comfortable with.
iVillage: But doesn't a writer use the narrator as a way of delivering the voice?
Writing coach: Yes, in fiction the narrator delivers the voice/is the voice. I strive for a voice that is authentic, natural, not stiff. We've all been subject to academic writing where it feels like a robot wrote it. I suggest that writers learn their craft from paying attention to how other writers put words together, what works, what doesn't work and why. It's not about plagiarism or copying though. Most beginning fiction starts (and should) start with what we know. But it's also a chance to re-invent ourselves, have an alter ego, etc...someone who is braver, thinner and doesn't have to face the consequences that we do in real life.
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