I never realized how important my voice was until I lost mine after my recent thyroid surgery.... We're not talking laryngitis, either. Have you ever tried to ask for directions when you sound like a fog horn, and the mailman can't understand you? Or, have you tried to order a fast-food take-out over the drive-through window speaker when your voice won't go up enough decibels for the person on the other end to hear you? Or, better yet, have you ever hosted an Internet radio show where you sound horrible, and you know it, but you have to move on because this is part of your calling? Talk about frustrating.
Well, it started me to thinking about how so many African American authors, who weren't given a chance to get published back through the years, even up through the 80s, and early 90s, (I was one of them), have now been given a voice. Many have self-published to get their words, their voice, so to speak, out to the world. I know I did. Anyhow, some have been published through traditional, mainstream publishers, but the point is, we now have a voice. The Internet has opened a lot of doors, too.
On another level, though, as an editor, I look for voice in a piece of fiction or nonfiction. Voice is an elusive thing. It's an ingredient that's hard to explain, but you know when it's missing. Voice can make or break a novel or even determine a nonfiction piece of work's success.
People tell me my first self-published novel, The Ebony Tree, sounds totally different from my second novel, No Pockets in a Shroud, but, like most people, I have a unique spin on the world. Also, I changed and grew between novels. I am a wordsmith and so are most writers. It's just having the courage to let people know how quirky, how different, and how unique you are that makes your voice stand above the crowd.
A lot of times, avid readers are closet writers who wish they had the courage to speak out and give voice to their concerns. Personally, I believe most people have at least one book inside of them. Now, warning. If you do get the nerve to write your truth, people will sometimes attack you, but who cares? Isn't it better to have gone through this world and left your mark, than died as the masses, to paraphrase Henry David Thoreau, "leading a life of quiet desperation"?
At any rate, voice is everpresent in fiction. In third person point of view, each character has his own voice, just as well as in first person (POV). The writer can subconsciously hook the reader because of the strong voice of the character(s).
Voice is as individual as a person's DNA, even his thumbprint. Just as no two people are alike, no two voices should sound alike. Voice determines a person's worldview, his attitude, and his agenda. That's why we're so excited when we read or hear a fresh voice because people tend to go along with the crowd and everyone sounds alike.
Likewise, in your fictional world, each character should have a distinct voice and not sound alike. This is what makes your characters sound real, and sells the reader on them.
I was recently working on a manuscript where the writer's manuscript just didn't sound right. From her previous manuscripts, the writing was technically better in terms of the grammar, but none of the characters came alive on the page, except for one. The irony was, that in spite of the writing flaws in her earlier works, the voices were authentic and just about leaped off the page.
Suggestions I gave that helped bring the character come alive was that the writer had to use the Stanislavski method, where, like actors, she acted out the character's part.. And the main request was that she gave her heroine courage. In the first draft, the main character didn't have any guts or backbone. Writers, you want your heroines (or heroes) to be courageous, opinionated, forceful, even outrageous. Always remember; shrinking violets don't make good protagonists.
Since the beginning of time, story has been used as a canvas to examine the human heart. Often we read to discover our own identities, our own values. What would you do if it were you in this same situation? This question is always in the back of the reader's mind.
If you can get your story to pose many such questions throughout, such as what will we do when faced with our own mortality, our own death, you will worm your way into your reader's heart.
Moreover, if you use a voice that your readers can connect to, you will have won a fan for life.
Dr. Maxine E. Thompson is the owner of Black Butterfly Press, Maxine Thompson's Literary Agency and Literary Services and Thompson Literary Show, and Maxine Show. She hosts Internet radio shows on www.artisfirst.com .. She is the author of The Ebony Tree, No Pockets in a Shroud, A Place Called Home, The Hush Hush Secrets of Writing Fiction That Sells, How to Publish, Market and Promote your Book Via Ebook Publishing, The Hush Hush Secrets of Creating a Life You Love, Anthology, SECRET LOVERS, (with novella, Second Chances,) SECRET LOVERS made the Black Expression's Book Club Bestselling list on 7-8-06 (after a 6-6-06 release date.) An anthology, All in the Family, (her novella, Summer of Salvation) came out in April 2007. Another new anthology, Never Knew Love Like This Before (her novella, Katrina Blues,) was published in June 2007. It was #13 on Amazon's top 100 bestseller's list and has been on there as a multicultural and romance anthology. Her nonfiction book, Heal Thy Soul, 365 Days of Affirmations for Women of Color is due out in 2009. She also has an upcoming novel, Hostage of Lies, which will be out in late 2009.
You can sign up for her free newsletter at http://www.maxinethompson.com
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
tweet this!