Wednesday Writing

Writer's Voice

I finished writing my second MS about two weeks ago and have since been working to edit it. Then I came across a huge problem (for me) that people mentioned about my first MS. Now, I see the problem is me.

It's my writing voice. I generally take a casual, hopefully accessible, voice when writing. Even college papers I preferred to write in a more casual voice because I believed anyone who can read should be able to grasp the concept I was proposing.

Even with my family, my voice tends to settle more on childish. It's something I've always been aware of. When I would talk to teachers or professionals, my voice would change without me thinking, to one that exuded professionalism (at least I hope).

So, what is the problem? The ideas, themes, plots, and characters I wrote are one age range and my voice is another. I want to do what works for the book, and my gut still says go with your plot and characters.

That means, the voice needs to change.

I can change the voice for character's dialogue, but the overall narration is the problem. I researched voice and tried to find a way to change it. What technical clues was I missing? What makes a voice sound young or old?

I then figured it was time to really get to know my main character. I wrote character descriptions for my primary characters, with what I, as a person, saw of their personalities.

Then, I went back and wrote the character personalities as if I was the MC, writing to friends or family about the characters she met. The voice was different - and I'm glad.

Something I'm going to be doing is the writing prompts found here: Writers Edit Weekly Writing Prompts.

I really want to be able to slip into my character's voice without much thought, and the only way to do that is practice.