March 9, 2010

Voice

Today's (second) post is on voice. In my opinion, if you get one thing right, this should be it. So how does one develop a great voice? Agent Rachelle Gardner says, Write What You Know. It's like acting. You put yourself into your characters, even though you're NOT the character.

QueryTracker always has great posts. It's a shame they don't happen very often :) Here's their post called Don't Use That Voice With Me. A few tricks that should shed some light.

And finally, all great authors read. I've talked about choosing my "magical books". This post tells you how to analyze great writers and how to find out how they do it. Including how they develop a fantastic voice.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your idea with the "magical books". Now I'm itching to make my own list. Mind if I pinch your idea of writing down the things I like about each book? The thought just hit me - if I ever wanted to improve my pacing, for example, it might be useful to have a list of books I can learn from.

Unknown said...

It's not my idea. I got it from How to Think Sideways. But of course you can do it. If anyone asks, we'll say you came up with the idea :)

* said...

Write what you know, that one I'd heard before. BUt not the Gardner quote, it's like acting. That gives me food for thought. Thank you.

.i2Style{ font:bold 24px Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-style:normal; color:#ffffff; background:#67b310; border:0px none #ffffff; text-shadow:0px -1px 1px #222222; box-shadow:2px 2px 5px #000000; -moz-box-shadow:2px 2px 5px #000000; -webkit-box-shadow:2px 2px 5px #000000; border-radius:90px 10px 90px 10px; -moz-border-radius:90px 10px 90px 10px; -webkit-border-radius:90px 10px 90px 10px; width:96px; padding:20px 43px; cursor:pointer; margin:0 auto; } .i2Style:active{ cursor:pointer; position:relative; top:2px; }