Voice- The Song of the Writer

You hear editors and agents continually asking for stories with VOICE in it. They want to hear a distintive sound, different from what they have already seen. So of course the question writers ask back is what is voice?

Jill Santopolo in her interview here talks about the writer's voice as their 'soul print'. She goes on to share that the best way to find your author's voice is to keep writing and writing.

She says, "The same way I can walk down the street and recognize the work of certain clothing designers or architects, I should be able to read a book and recognize the soul print of the author who wrote it."

I often think of it as the sound the author wants to create with their words. Depending on how you construct your sentence, it will give you a different sound.

Think of it like music. There are different categories such as classical, R&B, pop, soundtracks. The words in a book also could fall into different categories.

Look how different each of these phrases pulled from various books sounds:

"The Mudshark was cool. Not because he said he was cool or knew he was or thought it. Not because he tried or even cared. He just was." From MUDSHARK by Gary Paulsen

"I tread slowly, my bare feet giving me an advantage because on this rich green carpet I'm practically silent. I pass the doors, listening for sound, signs of life. But the only sound comes form the door at the end of the hallway that's slightly ajar. There are moans, gasps." From WITHER by Lauen DeStefano

"Yikes. I slam my hand down on the paper. Sucking in a deep breah, I peek under my palm again. Yikes again. A fat red F shimmers before my eyes, its wide arms swaying, mocking me, calling me lame names." From i so don't do mysteries by Barrie Summy

I love how each of those lines gives me a totally different feel, a different sound. They are music rising up from the pages.

Great links for more on The Writer's Voice:

• 10 Steps to Finding Your Writing Voice- by Holly Lisle
• Don't forget to reread Andrea Mack's post (one of our own MiG Writers) here
• Maggie Stiefvater has a some good insights on Teen Voice on her blog

What are some books with great voice that you recommend?

~ Christina

The Roller Coaster

The click, click, click of the wheels cutting across the tracks.

Higher and higher until hanging at the crest of the peak.

To fall.

Flying, stomach dropping, lungs screaming.

And then-

Back into dark tunnels, sharp corners, unexpected turns.

Until the end is reached. The ride has finished. Leaving me breathless and wanting more.

I don't know about you, but this has been my journey as a writer. Sometimes the tunnels feel too dark and I don't know if I can keep writing. But that's why I have my writing friends. To encourage me and keep me from giving up.

Then there are other times I'm standing on the peak and I don't want that feeling to ever end. But it's during those times that my writing partners are there for me, cheering me on.

How about you? Have you ridden any roller coasters lately?

~Christina

Time Is Worth Gold

I don't know about you, but my writing time is like GOLD. Between a full time job, kids and keeping my house somewhat clean, the hours can slip away if I let them. But at the same time, I'm lucky because I'm a teacher. That means Christmas and summers off. Still, this seems to be the biggest issue for me for my writing.

How do I find the time?

1. Determine set times in the day to write and stick to those. So for me it's an hour and half in the mornings before I have to get ready for work (unfortunately that means 5-6:30 am) and then again at nights, usually from 8 until I can't see straight.

2. Trade kid time with my supportive hubby. We do special kid times on the weekends. So I take the boys for a few hours so my hubby gets his stuff done, and then I'm in charge of the kids for a few hours. I try to make those moments with my kids special so that when I hand them over to my husband, I can get back to my writing guilt free.

3. Babysitter- I haven't used this yet, but it's definitely in my arsenal!

4. Always on the brain!- this means that I'm planning what to write while I drive to school that morning or when I take a shower or cook dinner. Because when it's time to sit down and write, I don't have the time to mess around.

5. For us MiGs we did check ups and on each other during the month of NaNo to motivate each other to keep writing. We'd email each other our word counts for the day and that helped me keep accountable to staying focused.

I can't tell you how much I would love to have the luxury of writing full time, but that's not an option right now so instead of complaining about it, I'm trying to stay positive and remember that I'm doing what I love more than anything else.

Any ideas that you'd like to share?

~Christina

What Do You Read?

For my writing, I consider it essential to read the kinds of books I write. So, my bedside table is stacked with MG and YA novels (I don't write YA yet, but I like reading them). I tend to read these for enjoyment first, and then afterward, I occasionally think about elements that are related to the craft, like the voice, the language, the dialogue, or the way the story is constructed. I estimate that about 40% to 50% of what I've read over the past couple of years has been books for children.

I wonder what the librarians at my local branch library think of me, getting all these kids books on hold? Maybe they think I have 5 kids at home who read all the time!

My goal has been to immerse myself in the style, the voice, and the structure of the kinds of books I want to write. It has definitely paid off. I know my writing has become much stronger since I've started doing this. (And it's fun!)

In case you were wondering, outside of kidlit, I read "how-to" writing books (this is beginning to sound like an obsession), blog posts (about writing, of course), books for my teaching job, cookbooks, a quick scan of the daily newspaper, and some adult mysteries and chicklit because I do sometimes want to read about adults. I'm guessing this other reading has less impact on my writing, except for the writing-related nonfiction.

What do you read? How much impact do you think it has on your writing?