Notes For September 8th, 2026
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Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Voice and style
Voice and style, a fictional author’s tools, making the character appear real and as realistic as possible, even down to the minor characters in your novel.
I’ve been musing over voice and skill level, a question posed in a discussion on Brandilyn Collins blog Forensics and Faith: Novel Openings
Naturally, my first instinct is to open my mouth and type the first dumb thing that comes to mind, which I did, and I call this brain fart idius (if there is such a word and which I have found no spelling for) you know, it’s those senior moments you have when you are well over the half century mark, and learning a new skill, those collective dumb moments you hope to get away with when you post unthought out thoughts. Getting beyond this, I’m one of those individuals who likes to think long and hard about topics that are posed for discussion, by the time I have digested everything and ready to respond the topics have usually advanced on to other subjects. So, I’ve created my own blog to post what I’ve digested and think relevant in hopes that it offers some weight to the subject.
Voice, looking at from the aspiring writer’s point of view, it is the author’s style in which we begin to tell the story. Now when we look at style, it is the specific way an author uses language to characterize through tone, narrative, and description the beginning of the story.
Style is defined as: The manner of expression of a particular writer, produced by choice of words, grammatical structures, use of literary devices, and all the possible parts of language use. Some general styles might include scientific, ornate, plain, emotive. Most writers have their own particular styles.
Now that style seems to be defined to some extent and we look at skill level, a subject near and dear to me, as I learn the creative process in hopes to improve my level of writing. We do improve our skill level by writing.
Like any good wanna-be, I went to my library of How To’s on the subject of creative writing, for I have multitudes on the subject, and believe one can never have enough books, especially on this topic. Voice and Style by Johnny Payne was the first book I picked up, and the first chapter deals with Habits of Speech. Word choice, comes hand in hand with the author’s individual style. Light bulbs of clarity flashed through my brain sparking a fire that blazes, and can’t seem to be put out, until I share with you his teachings.
Habits of Speech as Johnny Payne says is a distinctive way of talking, not to be confused with dialect. Dialect is a person’s overall style of talking. Habits of speech are certain phrases that give even a minor character presence in the story. Creating an intense impression of a character that can be observed in a few lines of dialogue and a few details of description, defined by the habit of speech. Johnny Payne goes on to explain there is a difference been clichéd language and language that is simply vernacular or familiar. It’s weaving those familiar phrases into a style of speech.
As idle as my brain seems to have been this book has been sitting on the shelf for sometime. The first paragraph adds the flavor to what I have been searching for, adding depth to the character’s I have been creating. It is the nuance of enlightenment.
Okay, now we have our writer’s voice and style down pat, we understand that we come to this through word choice, description, tone, and sentence structure. And we don’t have to settle just for that natural voice, we can be creative and create multiple voices. The more we write the more voices we develop.
Where can we learn different Habits of Speech? By watching people, and listening to how they speak, how they turn a phrase, their mannerisms. Finally, by reading other writers, and observing their method, and style.
Happy Writing!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab
New York Times
BOOKS
Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab
By MOTOKO RICH
Published: January 28, 2009
Companies that charge writers to publish are growing while many mainstream publishers are losing ground.
BOOKS
Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab
By MOTOKO RICH
Published: January 28, 2009
Companies that charge writers to publish are growing while many mainstream publishers are losing ground.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sweet Hearts of the Rodeo Week 12
As feature writer of the week, I decided to suspend with the usual critique of my work in progress and focus on something that has been plaguing me for sometime, what do with the collective novels, stories, the general all-round writing that’s gathering dust.
So I went to the group and posed a few questions that have clearly cluttered the brain and muddled those little gray cells into inactive, it was difficult thinking of going forward with something else, when I have so much unfinished.
I want to share with others the advice the group has giving me, mind you, the week isn’t over so not everyone has had a chance to respond, but there are two members that are always Johnny on the spot and hopefully they won’t mind me placing their comments here for others to read.
Learning the craft of writing is a wonderful adventure, a journey well worth taking, but as we venture down this creative road, the mind can become muddled and confused.
Over the years, you’ve posted your masterpieces to the group for feedback, and the group responds with excellent tips and advice. Then you begin revising your work in progress based on the suggestions the group has given.
Now you’ve spent years in a group environment, perfecting the skills and honing the techniques, and then one morning you wake up and realize that you’ve revised the stories so much that you’ve lost the muse. Not the muse for writing, but the novels and stories you have in progress.
One of the questions asked…
What do you do to keep the muse alive?
One member responded with this advice: “Personally I think you have to keep pushing forward, glancing back over your shoulder as necessary, but not getting sucked down into revising the same five or six stories over and over for the rest of your life.”
Another member responded with this advice: “My artistic sensuality can be sparked by doing things, like exercising, driving, or hiking or something as mundane as doing dishes. For me it can also be sparked by visuals found in art forms such as movies, photography, and painting. Doesn't matter whether these are well done or not, they always trip my switch. I feed my muse whenever possible.”
This is good advice on fueling the muse and then I went one-step further and twittered a similar question to noted authors…this is the response they gave.
Brandilyn Collins her blog, said: Forensics & Faith
Read: novels in your genre, newspaper, obits. Watch news. Many ideas there. Write snatches of scenes in your head.
Karen Marcus her webpage, said: Final Draft Communications
IMO, anything that moves you physically or mentally moves creativity--exercise, music, a great conversation.
From this aspiring author’s experience and digesting the advice given from the above, I can see where I could have went wrong possibly, and how the muse was lost in my case, in the beginning it was in the rewriting stage. Essentially, not knowing enough about the craft of writing, ultimately then, this is part of the learning the process.
Advice for myself is to save the feedback a day or so then revise but not to the extent that the muse is lost.
I do hope others that is reading this will share their experience and how you deal with the muse and what you have done to recapture the muse for pieces you have written in the past.
Happy Writing!
So I went to the group and posed a few questions that have clearly cluttered the brain and muddled those little gray cells into inactive, it was difficult thinking of going forward with something else, when I have so much unfinished.
I want to share with others the advice the group has giving me, mind you, the week isn’t over so not everyone has had a chance to respond, but there are two members that are always Johnny on the spot and hopefully they won’t mind me placing their comments here for others to read.
Learning the craft of writing is a wonderful adventure, a journey well worth taking, but as we venture down this creative road, the mind can become muddled and confused.
Over the years, you’ve posted your masterpieces to the group for feedback, and the group responds with excellent tips and advice. Then you begin revising your work in progress based on the suggestions the group has given.
Now you’ve spent years in a group environment, perfecting the skills and honing the techniques, and then one morning you wake up and realize that you’ve revised the stories so much that you’ve lost the muse. Not the muse for writing, but the novels and stories you have in progress.
One of the questions asked…
What do you do to keep the muse alive?
One member responded with this advice: “Personally I think you have to keep pushing forward, glancing back over your shoulder as necessary, but not getting sucked down into revising the same five or six stories over and over for the rest of your life.”
Another member responded with this advice: “My artistic sensuality can be sparked by doing things, like exercising, driving, or hiking or something as mundane as doing dishes. For me it can also be sparked by visuals found in art forms such as movies, photography, and painting. Doesn't matter whether these are well done or not, they always trip my switch. I feed my muse whenever possible.”
This is good advice on fueling the muse and then I went one-step further and twittered a similar question to noted authors…this is the response they gave.
Brandilyn Collins her blog, said: Forensics & Faith
Read: novels in your genre, newspaper, obits. Watch news. Many ideas there. Write snatches of scenes in your head.
Karen Marcus her webpage, said: Final Draft Communications
IMO, anything that moves you physically or mentally moves creativity--exercise, music, a great conversation.
From this aspiring author’s experience and digesting the advice given from the above, I can see where I could have went wrong possibly, and how the muse was lost in my case, in the beginning it was in the rewriting stage. Essentially, not knowing enough about the craft of writing, ultimately then, this is part of the learning the process.
Advice for myself is to save the feedback a day or so then revise but not to the extent that the muse is lost.
I do hope others that is reading this will share their experience and how you deal with the muse and what you have done to recapture the muse for pieces you have written in the past.
Happy Writing!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
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