Finding my voice? [Archive] - Absolute Write Water Cooler

Sean D. Schaffer

02-25-2008, 04:28 AM

My writing feels flat and voiceless.
It might be that I'm so focused on everything else, I'm smothering my storyteller's voice.
Any tips on how to get my voice to speak up?

I lost my storytelling voice by trying too hard. A long time ago, someone here told me to use my own natural voice, and to stop trying so hard to make my writing sound good.

Without knowing much about your situation, I would offer the advice that I was given. Maybe you're trying too hard, and just need to let the writing flow. I don't know this for certain, but it did help me. It might also help you. :)

--Sean

sunna

02-25-2008, 04:33 AM

I'm sure it's different for everyone, but I find that if I don't have a strong enough sense of my POV characters, my voice is weak. Once I've got my characters down, everything else comes naturally.

Mumut

02-25-2008, 04:33 AM

Storyteller? Do you have a voice just telling the story?

I find that conversation picks up a flat piece of writing. People can say things in conversaqtion a far more demonstrative way than you can write it. Also cut out any unnecessary words/sentences/themes. If you keep it crisp and to the point, it will start to feel vibrant. Then look at each word. The sad person can become devastated, funny can become hillarious, flat can become lively. Say it our loud. Try to get the most feeling into every part of the story.

That's how I write, by the way. I'll get a bee in my laptop and pound out the pages. Then I have to go back and breath life into them in some areas, where my spontaneity ran into muddy water for a time.

ishtar'sgate

02-25-2008, 04:35 AM

It might be that I'm so focused on everything else, I'm smothering my storyteller's voice.

WHAT everything else are you referring to?
Linnea

Eldritch

02-25-2008, 05:50 AM

Thank you all for the great replies!

Sean, I haven't really tried to use a voice, so it's not that I'm trying too hard. Maybe the problem is that I'm not trying at all. I think I'm afraid that if I try to use my voice, it's going to sound too conversational-- too full of "suddenlys" and "and thens".

Sunna, I feel pretty good about my pov characters, so I don't think that's the problem. At least not in this particular story that I'm working on.

Mumut, no it's not just a voice telling the story. I do have dialogue. And you're absolutely right about conversation picking up a flat piece of writing. I think my writing is crisp and to the point, maybe too crisp and too the point and devoid of personality.

Linnea, I'm so focused on finding the perfect word, making sure the dialogue is realistic, eliminating adverbs and repeat words, using commas correctly, and creating vivid scenes, that I think I've squeezed the life out of my storytelling voice.

Thanks again, everyone. Please keep the advice coming.
(I love this place!)

Novelhistorian

02-25-2008, 06:27 AM

I think voice comes with a certain kind of confidence. Not the kind that says, "I know words, how to write well, how to tell a story," but the kind that says, "This is my story. Listen to me." That kind of confidence doesn't worry that readers will think the writer's a jerk for using too many commas or the same verb in consecutive sentences. In fact, that kind of confidence doesn't care much, if at all, what the reader imagines the writer to be like.

It's been years since I read it, but Brenda Ueland's book, So You Want to Write, had a helpful discussion about voice. It's nothing you can strive for, I suspect, but something you have to allow to happen.

Danger Jane

02-25-2008, 07:04 AM

I'm sure it's different for everyone, but I find that if I don't have a strong enough sense of my POV characters, my voice is weak. Once I've got my characters down, everything else comes naturally.

This is definitely the key for me. Find the characters and I've found pretty much everything for the story.

Stuart Clark

02-25-2008, 07:12 AM

Linnea, I'm so focused on finding the perfect word, making sure the dialogue is realistic, eliminating adverbs and repeat words, using commas correctly, and creating vivid scenes, that I think I've squeezed the life out of my storytelling voice.

I would suggest that if you are having to think about making your dialogue realistic, then, after trying to make it realistic, it still probably isn't.

Write the conversation as it happens in your head, in real time. Just get it down on paper (figuratively). Get rid of all the "he said/she said". Just let your characters talk to each other. All the bells and whistles can be added later.

Good luck!
Stuart

Shweta

02-25-2008, 07:18 AM

Strangely, I just asked one of my Clarion instructors a very similar question. I feel like I have a strong voice for shorter fiction but it's getting flattened out in my novel.

She said this is maybe an early-draft issue, and that sometimes it takes a while to find a novel's voice. Sometimes several drafts.

Don't know if that helps.

IceCreamEmpress

02-25-2008, 07:25 AM

I know I sound like a broken record with this, but the best cure for this is reading your work out loud.

Danger Jane

02-25-2008, 07:27 AM

I know I sound like a broken record with this, but the best cure for this is reading your work out loud.

Seconded. Whether with an audience or not, you notice a lot more when you can hear your words, too.

Joycecwilliams

02-25-2008, 07:33 AM

My writing feels flat and voiceless.
It might be that I'm so focused on everything else, I'm smothering my storyteller's voice.
Any tips on how to get my voice to speak up?

I think this happens more than we care to admit. We often subject our work for others to read, and take their suggestions and end up losing our voice.

One exercise that I read in an article about getting your voice back is to take your story and rewrite it using only syllable words except for proper names.

I know this sounds easy, but it is challenging. Think about it... what word would you use for coffee? Or what word would you use for boyfriend? Lover wouldn't work...

Good luck

AOC

02-25-2008, 07:48 AM

I find my writing voice by acting out the people, in my head to play the chapter. That has always worked for me.

Shweta

02-25-2008, 08:19 AM

I know I sound like a broken record with this, but the best cure for this is reading your work out loud.

I always do this. Isn't helping with the novel.
In my case, I think it might just be that the novel's voice is less overt than the voices I've been short-storying in. Which is probably a good thing overall. But... I dunno.

Sonneillon

02-25-2008, 08:30 AM

My writing feels flat and voiceless.
It might be that I'm so focused on everything else, I'm smothering my storyteller's voice.
Any tips on how to get my voice to speak up?

Oh, Eldritch, I've been having the same problem since Chapter 1, Word 1 of my WIP. Would you believe I only fixed it YESTERDAY? I happened to be going through my files on my computer, and I found some fanfiction that, in my Big Name In Fandom days, was pretty well acclaimed. I started reading it just for nostalgia purposes, and suddenly, it jumped out at me... My Voice, the voice I had been missing.

I've been struggling because of my setting - it's not earth, and not modern, so I can't use earth colloquialisms like "okay", "go f*** yourself", "barking up the wrong tree", "in the ballpark", etc. My MC#2 has always had a kind of cowboy-ish lazyness to his sentence structure that is much more subdued in this setting, and he obviously can't swear creatively in Mandarin anymore. He and I were coping, but we weren't excelling... until now. After going back and reading my old work, the words have come more easily and more naturally than they have since I picked up writing again.

I don't know if you have old work with which you can do this, but if you do, I highly recommend it. You may see problems in your work that embarass you now (I certainly did), but you may also 'Hear' yourself more clearly than you have in a long time.

JoNightshade

02-25-2008, 08:48 AM

Sean, I haven't really tried to use a voice, so it's not that I'm trying too hard. Maybe the problem is that I'm not trying at all. I think I'm afraid that if I try to use my voice, it's going to sound too conversational-- too full of "suddenlys" and "and thens".

Okay, this may be a big part of your problem. For your first draft, DON'T WORRY about all the extra words. Put in as many suddenlies and thens as you want. People do use these words, and using them will help your writing feel more natural. Then, on your fourth or fifth draft or whatever, go back and start cutting.

Also, if you're writing in third person, consider setting a little time aside to write in first person from your main character's point of view. That may help you discover the particular way your character thinks, talks, acts, etc.

Shady Lane

02-25-2008, 10:14 AM

The best advice I ever got was, "Stop pretending you're writing and just talk."

So I do.

Smiling Ted

02-25-2008, 02:12 PM

Voice is important for writing in which you address the reader directly - essays and blogs, non-fiction and polemics and snide remarks.

For a story in which you're a third person omniscient narrator, don't worry about voice so much. Get your characters and story elements right, and tell the story as simply and clearly as you can. Get out of the way of your story, and a voice will emerge.

Cassiopeia

02-25-2008, 02:26 PM

Love your story. Breathe life into it with your passion for storytelling. The voice in your writing will come through. It might not peek out till the third chapter or it might show up in the second draft. Go back, read the beginning. Is there any setting that defines the mood of your WIP?

Good luck :)

HeronW

02-25-2008, 02:37 PM

Have fun with your work: take your top 2,3 characters and do their voices aloud as if they were at a coffee bar or deciding what movie to see, or what village to pillage, something natural for your setting to start than make it silly, passionate, change emotional directions--tape yourself if you can.

Elaine Margarett

02-25-2008, 02:45 PM

I would second (or third?) the opinion about not overthinking your writing. Sometimes I'll sit at the keyboard and for a brief moment, freeze up. Then I stop thinking about the process of writing, and just write.

Do you vary your sentence length so there's a rhythm to your writing? That's part of voice. So is word choice. Do you look for ways to end a section or chapter with a hook? That too is part of voice. You said your voice was flat. Are you building enough mood/atmosphere? If a particular sentence strikes you as off, re-work it.

Write your story as you hear it in your head. You can tweak as much as you like, later. And while you might not be able to find your voice in your writing, I'm betting that someone else will be much more aware of your voice when they read you.

Good luck!
EM

Devil Ledbetter

02-25-2008, 03:19 PM

The best advice I ever got was, "Stop pretending you're writing and just talk."

So I do.Similarly, "Just write. Don't worry about seeming clever," works for me.

Eldritch

02-25-2008, 05:30 PM

The WIP that I'm struggling with is a 40,000 word, middle grade novel. I just finished my first rewrite. I cut 10,000 words and polished it up. It still needs more polishing.

It's not the dialogue or the characters that I'm having a problem with--it's the overall voice of the story. As I'm thinking about all of your comments, I keep coming back to the "fear" thing. I feel like if I loosen up, my story will be full of writing no-no's. I think Novelhistorian is correct. It's a lack of confidence.

And like Shweta, I'm pleased with my short story voices, it's just this novel that's freezing me up.

So...how does one learn to relax and write with confidence?

Thank you all so much. This has really been helpful. :D

JamieFord

02-25-2008, 06:33 PM

Eldritch

02-25-2008, 07:49 PM

Yes, it's in third person.
It's not deep pov, more like pov light and closer to cinematic. Thanks! I never looked at it from this angle.

Erin

02-26-2008, 02:08 AM

Is your story in 3rd person? If so, is it a deep POV or is it cinematic? Is the reader experiencing the story from the inside out or the outside in? If it's too cinematic, it can feel flat and dull and the reader can sometimes feel removed from the scene. Just a thought...

I don't think I found my true voice until my current novel (my 3rd completed), which is also my first MS in first person POV. To test it out, I entered a first chapter contest, won first place and the MS was requested by Dorchester. So I knew something was working! It was a breakthrough for me because I never thought I could write in first person POV and entered the contest mainly to see if I was any good.

Switch your POV around and see if 1st POV works better for you...you just never know.

Eldritch

02-26-2008, 05:20 AM

I never would have thought to try that. Thanks! :)
This will be interesting.

HourglassMemory

02-26-2008, 06:21 AM

Does it sound like a stream of conciousness?
Or does it sound like a 'book' ?

How would you tell the story? Imagine yourself in fron tof a group of kids. You're the best storyteller in the world. Imagine yourself waving around and screaming.

I find that a stream of consciousness puts a lot of things out, onto the paper, which you can then edit.

You have to go through the story yourself.

What you could do is try out various ways of writing a story.

Lot's it's complicated to explain, because it's up to everyone's own experience.

Write a lot. I think it then naturally balances itself out and you end up with the writing style that you're most comfortable with.
but you have to write.

Start it with a question and just let your mind talk with itself. And type it all out.

Eldritch

02-26-2008, 05:30 PM

Imagine yourself waving around and screaming.

After reading this line, I said to myself, "But that's not the voice of this story." So then I asked myself what the voice was...and I didn't know.

That's it! That's my problem! I don't know what the voice of this story is. That explains why my short stories have a voice and this one doesn't. It was very clear to me what they were.

I'm such a doofus. But I'm now a happy doofus.

Thank you, Hourglass. Thank you, everyone. What an excellent therapy session!

Now to figure out my voice and use some of these wonderful suggestions to get it to speak.

gp101

02-26-2008, 06:24 PM

I'm no expert, and people like Uncle Jim would give far greater advice than me, but my two cents??

Pick one of your favorite writers, or, more importantly, a story that most resmbles the voice that would work for your story, and type out a few chapters, word-for-word of that story. Get a feel for it. You'd be surprised what you see when you're typing as opposed to just reading it.

Then go to your story and do your best to just straight-up copy that same voice. It will be akward, it will not feel like it's yours. It isn't yours. So you go back and make subtle changes that deviates from the other author's voice and soon enough, a voice of your own emerges. You may choose to include more or less description, more or less choppy dialogue, more or less fragmented sentences. Through this mess, you'll part from the copycat and come up with something you like. You may even learn some things on your own that totally deviate from that other author and your voice may, in the end, not appear anywhere close to the other author's.

Or this may just screw you up completely, who knows? It's just a suggestion. Worked for me, but it doesn't mean it'll work for everyone.

But do make sure that you know each character as much as you can. Know each major character's history, his motivations, his education, his likes and dislikes, his tastes, and know the way he/she talks. It helps when you write a scene from that character's POV.

ETA: a lot of your voice depends on the mood and tone of your story. Is it a hradboiled mystery or a light, fluffy romance? Combine that with the mood and personality of your characters and your voice slowly emerges in the narrative as well as the dialogue. I think.