Writing is a learning process, the catch is knowing who you're learning from. While I discuss writing here, be assured that I'm not an expert. Yes, I'm published but not in a big way or in any way that would be considered a success story for newbies to copy. I'm stumbling along with the rest of you.
With that said, I found this link to an interesting essay about "The Myth of Finding Your Voice". There are a lot of good points in this essay but it failed for me on one point. When you start writing in another author's voice, you're not being true to your own voice. Yes, you're learning how to turn phrases and develop a voice, but is it your own or just a pale imitation of the one or two writers you're trying to imitate? Here's the link http://sboydtaylor.livejournal.com/399619.html
You should know that I did a search of the author of this piece and could only find one short story that he'd written and had published, in a well-respected zine, I should add, which was the story mentioned in the essay. Anyone can blog about writing, just like I do. Newbie writers need to check out who they're learning from, otherwise it might be a case of the blind leading the blind. That said, Mr. Taylor makes some very good points about the process of developing a voice, which makes the essay worth the read and the reason I passed the link along.
And if you're having trouble with setting, head on over to Jonathan Maberry's website and learn from some well-respected regional writers. Very good stuff here and something that hit home for me as I'm finding that setting my stories in the country and in the small towns that I know works so much better for me than trying to fake my way through a big city setting. Here's the link http://jonathanmaberry.com/regional-mysteries-and-thrillers And if you go to the main page here and scroll down, you'll find a great interview with John Connolly.
When you're writing, use the lessons that work for you, the ones that make your stories unique to the writer in you.
7 comments:
My daughter's favorite writing advice from a professor in college was this. Take a paragraph in a good novel and rewrite every word of it. She found this helpful in seeing why a paragraph worked and how to make it her own.
That makes perfect sense, Patti. I think the trick is to use the craft but not the other writer's voice. I know I can't read Robert Parker when I'm writing dialogue because I start writing clever comebacks, ala Spencer and Hawk, that don't belong in the piece I'm writing.
The Internet is a useful tool--but only if used correctly, like any tool. Thanks for the reminder of this, Sandra.
Oh, yes. My problem too. It is death to read comic novels especially or I immediately start thinking of puns-always bad.
I haven't yet read the myth of finding your voice link -- but will soon. But I will pass on this quote:
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"The novel is a case history of the writer. It is the story of his life written as well as he can write it. It never ends; it goes on day after day, year after year. He is his own hero, his own heroine, his villain, his minor characters -- the thoughts of each of these are his own thoughts twisting and churning and wrenched alive and crawling from his conscious and unconscious mind. He writes because he must, because to fail as a writer means to fail as a man... When I first began to write it was an act of desperation. It was a blind search, and at first every trail I followed led to the inside of a deep cave. I was searching with my conscious mind instead of my heart. I attempted style after style,writing feeble imitations of the men I worshiped: Thomas Wolfe, Joyce, Kafka, Hemmingway. Naturally, my words
were pallid, meaningless words. The paper I wasted would have had better use in the bathroom... The more I tried to conform to the formula the more hopeless it all appeared. I lost all hope, I reached the point where I no longer cared what people thought about my writing. And that is when I began to write... If you have daring, if you have durability, if you have the patience to follow the detours and dictates of your heart; if you want that mysterious, elusive thing called 'art', you can also achieve it.
"It just takes longer, that's all." -- Charles Willeford
I wouldn't have thought about it too much, Conda, if he'd had a list of his published stories on the blog. When I didn't find anything, I decided to check him out. It doesn't hurt to know who you're taking advice from.
Exactly, Patti. I remember once going on a Georgette Heyer reading binge and in a conversation with my husband, he suddenly asked what the hell I was talking about. I had started using old English slang. It made me realize that if my mouth was doing this, so was my writing fingers.
Thanks for the quote, Brian! That's exactly how I feel some days and think I will never find my way. Following your heart sounds easy, but when you start thinking in terms of who might read this, or what is hot in the publishing industry, you tend to lose that heart.
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