Tone

Maze Runner

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How conscious are you of the tone of your novel? While writing it or while editing it? Once you get a take on what you think the tone should be of a particular story, how do you manage to maintain it? Especially when you make major changes. Are you open to looking at it in a different way once it changes?
 

SwallowFeather

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I'd say it's the same kind of subliminal consciousness that you would have of the tone of a conversation you're in. I feel the tone of my novel as I write it. There is maybe an early period where I'm trying out different tones, and then one clicks in and feels right, and maintaining it is a matter of keeping in touch with that feeling, or getting back in touch with it if I've been away a little too long. Best way to get back in touch with it tends to be reading what I previously wrote.

The one thing I've done more consciously is to try to put in more humor, b/c I'm not great at humor. But that's a matter of comic relief in a dark story; I don't know if you--or at least I--could work consciously to impose a particular overall tone and have that work.

I've never made such major changes that they'd require, or cause, a change in tone, so I can't speak to that last part.
 

Maze Runner

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The one thing I've done more consciously is to try to put in more humor, b/c I'm not great at humor. But that's a matter of comic relief in a dark story; I don't know if you--or at least I--could work consciously to impose a particular overall tone and have that work.

This is on-point for what I'm dealing with. I may be trying to impose a certain tone that I thought would be right for my WIP, in fact, it is a more humorous take on the mafia story--but what I'm finding out, ha, maybe it won't come as a shock, is that because of the story (which in my defense is atypical-haven't seen it before) because the things these guys and girls actually do aren't so funny, I keep drifting into more drama than I'd planned.
 

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Very - although with some characters I get it wrong. My CPs are great at picking it up and pointing it out.

Tone can change across a novel or within scenes but there has to be reason for it. can't be serious all the time :)
 
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Maze Runner

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I'm thinkin' I just finish writing the story, then see what tone I think best serves it and go back and carve it out. I've had two major changes lately that I know serve the story, but messed with the overall tone. I have to remember to let these people do what they want to do.
 

The Urban Spaceman

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How conscious are you of the tone of your novel?

Not very. I try to immerse myself (mentally) in the period/setting for whatever I'm writing, but I don't make a conscious effort to change the tone (voice?) from novel to novel. That said, my tone does change (very different between my dry/somewhat satirical urban fantasy fairy story WIP, and my darker sci-fi WIP) but those changes weren't intentional, and I didn't start out thinking "Hmm, I'm going to write this story in this particular way." It's just been a part of a natural immersion into my various different worlds.
 

CJSimone

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How conscious are you of the tone of your novel? While writing it or while editing it? Once you get a take on what you think the tone should be of a particular story, how do you manage to maintain it? Especially when you make major changes. Are you open to looking at it in a different way once it changes?

I'm conscious of the tone and try to insert words, images and such that give it the tone I'm going for (both while writing and editing). I've failed to pay enough attention at times, and I think an early version of my WIP (a version not posted here) opened with way too light a tone for my story.

My WIP is dark YA, and I do try to vary the tone in places for relief. It also varies depending on the POV character. Comic relief's great and I appreciate it in stories, but I'm not funny (too serious and moody) so I don't even go there. I try at times to lighten it in other ways, though. For example, making a scene sweet or fun (different kinds of fun than funny).

I guess I do look at my WIPs in different ways once the tone changes - I've started out attempting to write something light, but it always goes dark. I think I'd have to write something short to keep it light.
 

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a more humorous take on the mafia story...

...the things these guys and girls actually do aren't so funny, I keep drifting into more drama than I'd planned.

Yeah, I hear ya. There is such a thing as Black Comedy, but I sure as heck couldn't write it. I think you have to be a really particular kind of person, with a really particular sense of humor, to pull it off. I want to say if it doesn't come naturally it probably won't come, but what do I know really? We should ask someone who writes good black comedies...
 

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Strangely enough, tone is usually where start. If I can't find the right voice, I usually can't get a story off the ground, and the first few attempts at a novel will usually be spent trying to find the right tone. So it's something I'm very conscious of both while writing and editing--to me, tone and voice are so much of who a protagonist is. Without it, I would have a hard time getting a feel for my characters.
 

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Jaws was a initially a dark comedy. The man's agent suggested he rewrite it as straight horror.
Three Men in a Boat was originally a sentimental travelogue with little bursts of humor. The man was asked to cut the sentimentalism and focus on the comedy.
 

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This is on-point for what I'm dealing with. I may be trying to impose a certain tone that I thought would be right for my WIP, in fact, it is a more humorous take on the mafia story--but what I'm finding out, ha, maybe it won't come as a shock, is that because of the story (which in my defense is atypical-haven't seen it before) because the things these guys and girls actually do aren't so funny, I keep drifting into more drama than I'd planned.

Try Tom Sharpe. He can write a dark comedy around constant violence. The Throwback and Blott on the Landscape are probably best suited as companion books for your current effort:)
 

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Thanks for all the generous responses. It turns out I've got major issues (ha, no, not the obvious ones) but major issues with this book. Which really have to do with something as basic as motivation. Two instances of motivation that I kind of knew (don't we always?) were not quite right, but I was letting myself off the hook because it is a comedy, and in comedy, things can be a bit absurd? So this was disguised in my mind as an issue of tone--which it is, but that's only the symptom.
 

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That's another reason why AW rules--it allows one to figure out stuff through discussion with one's peers:D
 

Maze Runner

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It's really true, Sometimes I just can't see it anymore.
 

Maze Runner

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Strangely enough, tone is usually where start. If I can't find the right voice, I usually can't get a story off the ground, and the first few attempts at a novel will usually be spent trying to find the right tone. So it's something I'm very conscious of both while writing and editing--to me, tone and voice are so much of who a protagonist is. Without it, I would have a hard time getting a feel for my characters.

I should have been more clear. Yeah, I've usually found my story through an MC's voice and tone, but this one's in omni 3rd.
 

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I am VERY aware of the tone I'm setting. I am a plotter by nature, so I don't put word to page unless I know what I want to convey. I'm also a firm believer in letting the reader know what sort of book they're reading in the first page or so. The best way to do that IMO is with tone.
 

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How conscious are you of the tone of your novel? While writing it or while editing it? Once you get a take on what you think the tone should be of a particular story, how do you manage to maintain it? Especially when you make major changes. Are you open to looking at it in a different way once it changes?

Tone matters a lot to me. I'm not really committed till I have the tone. I can change it - but that is close to a scrap and redo.
 

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Two instances of motivation that I kind of knew (don't we always?) were not quite right, but I was letting myself off the hook because it is a comedy, and in comedy, things can be a bit absurd? So this was disguised in my mind as an issue of tone--which it is, but that's only the symptom.

Have you thought about writing part of it from the point of view of one or both of those characters, even if you do that just as an exercise? It might help you with both the motivation and the tone.
 

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Tone matters a lot to me. I'm not really committed till I have the tone. I can change it - but that is close to a scrap and redo.

I've made a couple runs at it. It is close to a scrap and redo. So friggin' depressed. :)
 

mccardey

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I've made a couple runs at it. It is close to a scrap and redo. So friggin' depressed. :)
Cheer up, chicken. Scrap-and-redo is part of the process for me - but it all leads to progress. And work's never wasted :)
 

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This is one of the things I don't consciously pay attention to. I try, in every story, for a satisfactory level of overall unity, in prose style and other matters, and each story has an individuality that doesn't necessarily match other stories I write. If I succeed in achieving that unity, I think "tone" has been a seamless part of that.

caw
 

neandermagnon

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I've made a couple runs at it. It is close to a scrap and redo. So friggin' depressed. :)

I'm working on a scrap and redo at the moment. Nearly 150,000 words of scrap. Just over 20,000 words of redo so far.

I don't see it as a bad thing. I developed a lot of really good stuff in those 150,000 words - characters, events and voice. It lacked coherence. I'm rewriting it with a coherent plot and some new stuff added in. It's a lot better than the original version, and it wouldn't be what it was without all the stuff I developed writing the first version. You basically cherry pick the original version and more than half of the work's already done for you. Nothing is ever wasted in writing. Rewriting is a lot more straightfoward than trying to fix something that's got fundamental, unfixable flaws.
 

Maze Runner

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I'm working on a scrap and redo at the moment. Nearly 150,000 words of scrap. Just over 20,000 words of redo so far.

I don't see it as a bad thing. I developed a lot of really good stuff in those 150,000 words - characters, events and voice. It lacked coherence. I'm rewriting it with a coherent plot and some new stuff added in. It's a lot better than the original version, and it wouldn't be what it was without all the stuff I developed writing the first version. You basically cherry pick the original version and more than half of the work's already done for you. Nothing is ever wasted in writing. Rewriting is a lot more straightfoward than trying to fix something that's got fundamental, unfixable flaws.

Whenever I've spotted problems with a story I've always tried to see it as an opportunity, because I knew that as of that moment it became a better story. I think it's the things we don't see that end up to be the real problems. Still trying to get my head around it, and still trying to be certain of my direction now. Thanks very much, and best of luck with your story.