Finding Your Voice
Finding a voice that works for you is something every aspiring writer is encouraged to focus much time and effort on. But what the heck are people talking about when they say this and where am I on the road to finding my voice?
Your first challenge when facing up to this stipulation is to work out what the hell they mean by ‘voice’. At first sight, it seems like a load of mumbo-jumbo and, quite frankly, I didn’t pay it a lot of heed, thinking it not worth the trouble.
When someone bangs on about ‘voice’ what they mean is finding a style of writing that really suits you and helps to bring out the best in your writing. It’s the whole package, the genre you choose, the characters, what person you write in, the way you use your words. It is everything the reader encounters when they move beyond the cover and start to read your book.
I found a character in the form of David Good that I was able to relate to incredibly easily, put him in a setting I was familiar with and quickly identified that writing in the first-person was the thing to do. I also knew by then that I like to write in a style that has a nice, easy rhythm to it. Once I had built out a wider cast of characters and worked out that I wanted to write crime with a strong vein of humour, then I was almost there. All it needed after that was some practice.
That’s not to say that once you’ve found your voice it’s job done, especially if you want to branch out. No matter how good your beautifully polished voice becomes, it won’t do you much good if you decide to write about someone else, somewhere else, doing something else. I should know. I’ve tried developing several other series since I got David Good up and running, none of them entirely satisfactory. I haven’t given up on one of them, but until I get it right I won’t be going anywhere near publishing it.
So the next time someone tells you to go find your own voice, stop looking under the sofa, because you won’t find it there. Your voice is your own creation. You create it and only you will know when it feels absolutely right for you.
For the full version of this post please see http://www.benwesterham.com/a-writers....
Get a free copy of the novel ‘Good Investigations’ here http://www.benwesterham.com/.
Crime fiction with attitude and humour from 1980s London.
Your first challenge when facing up to this stipulation is to work out what the hell they mean by ‘voice’. At first sight, it seems like a load of mumbo-jumbo and, quite frankly, I didn’t pay it a lot of heed, thinking it not worth the trouble.
When someone bangs on about ‘voice’ what they mean is finding a style of writing that really suits you and helps to bring out the best in your writing. It’s the whole package, the genre you choose, the characters, what person you write in, the way you use your words. It is everything the reader encounters when they move beyond the cover and start to read your book.
I found a character in the form of David Good that I was able to relate to incredibly easily, put him in a setting I was familiar with and quickly identified that writing in the first-person was the thing to do. I also knew by then that I like to write in a style that has a nice, easy rhythm to it. Once I had built out a wider cast of characters and worked out that I wanted to write crime with a strong vein of humour, then I was almost there. All it needed after that was some practice.
That’s not to say that once you’ve found your voice it’s job done, especially if you want to branch out. No matter how good your beautifully polished voice becomes, it won’t do you much good if you decide to write about someone else, somewhere else, doing something else. I should know. I’ve tried developing several other series since I got David Good up and running, none of them entirely satisfactory. I haven’t given up on one of them, but until I get it right I won’t be going anywhere near publishing it.
So the next time someone tells you to go find your own voice, stop looking under the sofa, because you won’t find it there. Your voice is your own creation. You create it and only you will know when it feels absolutely right for you.
For the full version of this post please see http://www.benwesterham.com/a-writers....
Get a free copy of the novel ‘Good Investigations’ here http://www.benwesterham.com/.
Crime fiction with attitude and humour from 1980s London.
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