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How to improve your voice with poetic, literary or rhetorical devices

lyann88

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I am looking for a book that give practical advice on how to improve your voice using specific poetic, literary or rhetorical devices. I want to learn which technics to use to invoke certain emotion or emphasis on certain themes to improve my voice.
On this topic, I have read: The Art of Voice: Poetic Principles and Practice; Style: An Anti-Textbook; The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide; The Elements of Style, and VOICE: The Secret Power of Great Writing (Bell on Writing Book 6). They were helpful but I still find the concept of voice to be extremely elusive. No book could tell me which literary device or poetry technic to use to produce effect in the reader such as humour, drama, excitement, boredom, etc. I was wondering if any one had any reading suggestions on this subject.
 

Tazlima

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I feel like you're combining three separate things, "voice", "genre", and "technique".

Let's look at "voice" first. The word choice of "voice" is remarkably apt. Like one's literal voice, a writing "voice" is something innate and unique to each author. You don't have to discover anything. It's already there, already unique, and reading won't help it develop... only writing will do that, just as reading books about exercise won't build muscles, and reading books about singing are useless unless you open your mouth and actually practice.

So don't worry about voice. You already have one.

Now genre... that's as much a process of discovery and experimentation as anything else.

Let's say you wanted to be a singer. Your voice already exists, but what kind of voice is it? Is it high or low? Loud or soft? Reedy? Haunting? The experimentation of different styles and genres of writing is like a singer trying different genres of music. It helps you learn where your voice works best. Do you have the voice for opera? Grunge? Country? Perhaps your talent lies not with singing, but with bird calls or beat-boxing or motivational speeches. Try a bit of everything and see what sticks, what feels right for you. That's where you can play with "humour, drama, excitement, boredom, etc."

Finally we get to technique. Now voices CAN be developed and improved, and they can change over time. (Again... like ones literal voice). But technique isn't anything as big as "genre." Different genres may have different commonly-used techniques... but the techniques themselves are generally line or paragraph level details. Returning to our "singing" analogy... a soloist can use vibrato with impunity, while it can detract from group singing and is the bane of barbershop (barbershop depends on smooth harmonies to generate overtones and peditones that make it sound like there are more people singing than are physically present and vibrato kills that dead). In writing, comparable development would be things like story length and structure (writing a novel and writing a picture book are very different undertakings), genre traditions (e.g. romance by definition has to have a "happily ever after" or "happy for now" ending... otherwise it's not romance), POV, purple vs. sparse prose, etc. It's difficult to advise what specific skills to develop unless you already have a genre in mind.

So my first advice would be to narrow down what genres interest you. Try your hand at all of them and see which really resonates. THEN look up techniques related to your selection(s). And don't worry about voice at all. That part will come on its own.
 

Woollybear

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To your question, Lyann: Consider The Emotional Craft of Fiction. Doesn't develop voice but does develop interiority which helps bring a voice out more fully.

I (pretty much) agree with Tazlima that some of these concepts: voice, technique, emotion, themes... are different overlapping parts of a whole. Working on one develops the others, and so on.

But to the idea of 'voicey' writing, which sometimes you see people seeking over any particular topic or genre, the best tip I ever got is that voicey writing is writing that comes with a judgment. Write 'judgey,' and you will write voicey--that was basically the idea that crystallized for me regarding voice. Be sure your characters have strong opinions. Positive or negative. Ex: Ferris Bueller saying about Cameron's dad's car: "It is so choice" is voicey, because a judgment is given. He didn't say "It is so red." That would be a statement of fact, not a statement of opinion. It would not be voicey.

This idea of judgment is only part of voice, and I see it come into novels through unexpected (judgmental) adjectives as well as behaviors. For me it is an accessible part of voice (although has little to do with "specific poetic, literary or rhetorical devices") so I thought I'd post it, in case the idea's useful to you as well. (I suppose it might be seen as a technique to practice, to develop your natural voice into something stronger/louder/more evident.)
 
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indianroads

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We all learn in different ways - for me, the best learning comes from reading well written books by successful authors. Their rhythm, structure, and word choice just sort of seeps in. AND that's a heck of a lot more entertaining than reading a dry text book.
 

lyann88

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I really appreciate all your help. I will look into The Emotional Craft of Fiction. I have already finished the first draft of my novel and my goal is to improve the literary feel. I writing a sci-fi romance novel. I am currently listening to Dresden files from Jim Butcher audiobook and I like his voice. I once tried to listen to it while also reading it. Is there some kind of literary analysis of an author with a similar voice?
 

katfeete

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I’d call the voice Butcher uses for Dresden Files “snarky noir”: you might look for some literary analysis of authors like Raymond Chandler (for the noir) or Rex Stout (for the snark). Their works are old enough and foundational enough there’s likely to be something out there, and Chandler at least has a few essays on writing. You could also try physically copying out a passage you particularly like from the Dresden Files — I’m a speed reader, myself, and I find that forcing myself to actually type every word makes me pay more conscious attention to what tricks the author is using and what choices they’re making.

I do think, however, you’re missing the fundamental point people upthread are making about voice. Voice is not a technique or craft trick; it’s all an author’s tricks and techniques and choices rolled into one. Voice is unique to an author. Finding your voice by copying someone else’s is like lipsyncing to improve your singing. You might pick up a few handy pointers, but in the end, it’s not about how you hold your mouth. It’s about the noise.

Try going at this from a different angle. When you say you like Butcher’s voice, what do you mean? You like his sense of humor? The dialogue? The action scenes?

When you say you want to improve your book’s “literary feel”, what specifically are you worried about? Your descriptions? Your scene flow? Do you feel it’s dry and boring, even though the events are interesting, or do you worry more that the characters are witty and engaging but everything happens too slowly? Do you think the book is too “light” and entertaining, with not enough meat to it? Or too weighty and thick, wearing its morals on its sleeve? Or is it something else entirely?

Give us a better idea what specific problems you have, and we’ll have an easier time telling you what tools you may find useful.
 
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lyann88

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I like what I writing but it is my first book, so I don't know if I like it because it is actually good, or if I just don't have the experience to judge it. The problem is, that I not sure where the problem is... I was hoping to find a book that would tell things such as when you are using this assonance, this is what it invokes in the reader's mind. I don't want to copy Jim Butcher style, I am going more with a cheeky, sarcastic tone. This is how my novel begins to give you an idea:
Maybe selling drugs wasn’t such a good idea after all. Funny how an evening of hanging by your feet will stir reflection upon one’s decisions. Thank you my Lizard friends for scorching my bare ankle so that my skull can experience this blissful blood throbbing. And thank you for that sweet aroma of burned plastic the simmering Jollies has unveiled. What better way to have a gal want to spew her gut out? And what a lovely preview of my future, a mere moment before I swing by hell.
I’m happy to report that, unlike in the movies, wiggling your hands and feet won’t help you escape your captors but instead make you appreciate the true meaning of the expression burning like hellfire. Bonus tip. Always wear sexy lingerie. You will thank me the next time you get abducted and have warehouse full of drug dealers ogle at your lacy black bra and panties.

- - - Updated - - -
 
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Woollybear

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I suspect each reader will have a different response.

You can put a 200 word excerpt into the "Hook me in 200 words" thread for your genre and see what people have to say. There is a different Hook Me thread for each genre--yours sounds like contemporary or YA or possibly thriller but I'm not sure. But if you go to the forum for your genre, you should be able to find the 'Hook me in 200 words' thread and get some feedback that might help you in your endeavors.

But remember--in the end it will be up to you to decide whether the feedback you get will help your 'voice' or not... though I suppose coming to those decisions in and of itself helps us figure ourselves out.