Q&A with The Lit Coach: Finding Voice

Welcome to part two of three of Q&A with The Lit Coach! Today I'll address the issue of finding the best voice for your fiction.

Q: I'm revising a novel and was lucky enough to stumble upon Stephen Koch's incredible book, THE MODERN LIBRARY WRITER'S WORKSHOP: A GUIDE TO THE CRAFT OF WRITING. I love his chapters on storytelling and most of all on voice.

Can you recommend any other works - chapters, essays, books that focus on voice for those of us trying to sort out this issue in our own fiction?
-Kay

A: While I highly recommend investing a substantial amount of time learning everything you can about the craft of writing through workshops and from great books like the one you suggested, there comes a time when you must face your characters and allow them to show you what they're made of. While I'm sure Koch's book is no doubt inspiring and thought provoking (and I'm being totally sincere about that), you will learn more by reading lots of fiction within the genre you see yourself best fitting (to start, then expand to other genres for an advanced study) and studying how THOSE authors developed their characters' voices through careful detail and dialog.

But this issue isn't about voice, really. Voice is what shines through from knowing your characters. You having total clarity about your characters is how you achieve voice. So let's take a step back and examine your main protag/antag: What's their history, their passions, their motivations, their challenges, heck, their DNA? What makes them unique? Why do we care about them? You should know your characters as well as you know yourself (and I hope you know yourself pretty well by now) BEFORE you write the first sentence. Knowing your plot before you start is great, you should, but knowing your characters just as well will help you determine how those characters are going to navigate that plot structure. Side note: you may collect lots of fun data about your characters that will never make it into the book and that's fine - we'll get the impression through your storytelling.

What can you do now? If you're just beginning to write your novel, get to know your characters. Sketch them out in detail. Know what excites them, what sets them off, what turns them on, what challenges them, what they fear, love, loathe. What do they want more/less of in their lives? Have fun with it! What kind of music do they listen to? Clothes? Pets? Weird habits? You get the picture.

Step Two: Once you know them (and your plot), then start writing. You'll be amazed how easily you'll slip into the voice you created for them through character detail. Go with it! It may sound like hiccups at first; you're just warming up. Keep writing. It will begin to flow.

What if you're already mid-way or finished with a novel and your/your character's voice is still flat? This is a tough decision to make, but one that you will ultimately need to follow through with if you want any real change. Rebuild your characters. Go back to square one and draw up those character sketches. Get to really know them. Sometimes beginning writers are afraid to change something they've worked so hard on and I totally understand the "I gotta save this because this took me forever to write" mentality but honey, if it ain't workin', it ain't workin' and no amount of cut and paste editing is going to do the trick.

I've taken a few of my clients through this tear down and re-build exercise. It's intense and it's a lot of work, but they are finally seeing the light shining through their characters and best of all, they're having FUN with them! They actually LOVE them now! They let go of what they thought their characters should be (the ones that weren't going anywhere), got to really know them by rebuilding them yet keeping a few good attributes, and are letting them loose in their plot maze, which they will navigate expertly with distinct voice.

So, writers, to recap: To achieve a compelling voice for your characters, you have to know them. Draw out your characters through a detailed character sketch so you know everything about them. For inspiration and education, read fiction (your genre to start) to study how other authors have developed their three-dimensional, colorful, life-sized characters. Then start writing.

Hope that helps, Kay! I wish you loads of success!

Friday, I'll address plot structure.

Happy Writing!

TLC

Creating Your Original Voice

Several years ago when I was a hungry agent looking for edgy fiction, I responded in an interview on Webdelsol that I was looking for fiction writers with unique, powerful voices. I mentioned I was intrigued by Chuck Palahniuk’s work for its brave style...or something to that effect. That’s all it took. The floodgates opened and I was soon inundated with query letters and emails from writers whose style was “just like Chuck’s!" Since likening your style to another published author is fair game when it comes to pitching your work (as long as your pitch is original), I accepted several of these promising submissions. I soon read enough first chapters to know that while these authors were indeed fans of Chuck’s work (and don’t ask me why, but so too were they fans of Irvine Welsh, Hunter S. Thompson and Ginsberg), they were only writing “just like Chuck” and sadly not “just like John” or “just like Jenny." They hadn’t yet developed their own original voice. While writing in the same voice as your favorite author is a very helpful and popular work-shopping tool, this is something you do to strengthen your storytelling muscles, not become your favorite author.

But what’s a writer to do? Hundreds of books get published a year. There’s no such thing as an original voice let alone story, is there? How come you see scores of vampire and chicks- in- high heels books out there? Isn’t that the same thing? Not really. Those are hot genre trends not to be confused with an author’s original voice. I can guarantee you, Chuck is the only Chuck out there writing what he writes. Likewise with David Sedaris, James Patterson, Janet Evanovich and Anne Lamott. All of these writers have put in years of time, discipline, persistence and dedication to the craft, making their writing voice uniquely recognizable.

One of the first editors I met in New York made this point abundantly clear: tell me a good story! Don’t get caught up in a language that’s not your own, just tell a good story! That’s what Marcela Landres communicated very clearly to this fresh faced agent while we sat in her office at Simon and Schuster. Her passion for original yet commercially viable fiction was contagious! And she made it sound so easy! But you and I both know it’s not, when it comes down to you in front of your computer ready to write…a good story.

I knew Marcela was the perfect pro to bring in to this blogshop. I asked her:

TLC: As an editor, no doubt you've seen countless submissions from unpublished authors who want to be the next Candace Bushnell or Dan Brown. How can a beginning author find and promote their unique voice in the sea of commercial fiction published annually?

ML: To quote Ezra Pound, “Make it new.” When you read as many submissions as agents and editors do, you quickly realize most book ideas are not original. Stand out either by telling a new story, or telling an old story in a fresh way. Here’s how:

Read the competition.

The world doesn’t need another thriller—unless you write one with a cool twist. New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo did just that with Sworn to Silence, a police procedural set in Amish country with a protagonist who was formerly Amish. How many other Amish thrillers can you name?

Publish before you are published.

Many a commercial fiction writer has launched her career by first publishing articles in newspapers and magazines. Case in point, Candace Bushnell wrote pieces about women, relationships, and dating as a freelancer for Mademoiselle, Self, and Esquire. Those gigs eventually lead to the New York Observer column that was the basis for the Sex in the City book--the rest is history. Her freelance articles and column served two purposes: they helped Bushnell hone her voice, and they established a following for her work.

Write what you know.

Regardless of whether you’re a cop, a chef, or a cubicle-dweller, your life can be fodder for your fiction. For example, Cathleen Schine was born in Westport, CT, and lives in New York City and Venice, CA—all pretty affluent places. What does this upper middle class author write about? Yep, upper middle class people. Schine does such a great job People magazine dubbed her “a modern-day Jewish Jane Austen.”

If you must write what you don’t know, research.

Jodi Picoult is a happily married mom of three teenagers who spends her days writing and caring for her family. She has not experienced most of the drama depicted in her work. How is she able to write about what she doesn’t know? Painstaking, thorough research. For Nineteen Minutes, a novel about a school shooting, Picoult: obtained previously unreleased material from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, which had investigated the Columbine shootings; interviewed a grief counselor who worked with the families who lost children at Columbine; met with two teachers who survived the shootings in Rocori, MN; and spoke with a young man whose friend died at a school shooting. Infuse your fiction with the authenticity that can only come from experience—if not your own, then someone else’s.

TLC: Learn from the masters. In many attempts to improve his vocabulary and rhetorical discipline, Benjamin Franklin used to outline and then attempt to copy articles he considered written above his talent. According to Franklin’s autobiography, his goal was to “capture the logic and emotion” of the articles he admired. He would then go back to review his work in comparison with the original author’s work, highlight his faults and correct them. This discipline would ultimately lead to Franklin’s publishing success!

Your Exercise This Week:

Fiction Writers: Think of your favorite book. I know it may seem sacrilegious, but imagine if it were YOU writing the same story, how would you change it? How would you make it your own? If I were to take this on, one of my all time favorite books, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven would take place in rural Iowa. I’ll leave it at that. If you’ve ever read Sherman Alexie and lived anywhere rural, you’ll understand.

Nonfiction Writers: Think of your favorite “how to” book - something that changed you and inspired you to action. How would you write it using your voice and insights? Would the text have a different feel? What new perspective could you offer to the original text? Maybe Dale Carnegie’s classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People becomes How to Win Friends and Influence People: Life Lessons from Sam’s Deli.

Have fun with this one!


Marcela Landres, author of the e-book How Editors Think: The Real Reason They Rejected You, publishes the award-winning e-zine Latinidad, and is an Editorial Consultant who helps writers get published by editing their work and educating them on the business side of publishing. A member of the Women’s Media Group, she has acted as a judge for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award, and was formerly an editor with Simon & Schuster.

Have any success stories or tips you'd like to share? I want to know! Email me at erin.reel@gmail.com.