Office Hours: Getting a handle on your voice
What’s New
Mask mania
The mask isn’t just to protect you. It’s to prevent you from unwittingly spreading the virus. Once again people ASYMPTOMATIC SPREAD.
This is NOT violating your civil liberties – You are still able to speak, you are still able to pray, you are still able to go about your business.
In VA the health department will start issuing citations to businesses who don’t require people to wear masks. (I’m looking Giant Foods)
Journaling – Started last week – Very cathartic
Live stream expansion – Streamyard or Restream for streaming to multiple platforms
Summer Read-along for the Once & Future Series – Inside the Kettle Holler Literary Society
Weekly Topic
Voice – This is the thing that makes each writer distinct. Agents and editors will tell you that
Endless retellings of fairy tales, rewriting classics like Emma into Clueless or Pride and Prejudice into Bridget Jones Diary
The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek and The Giver of Stars – Two books so similar that it has been reasonably argued in many circles that Moyes plagiarized her book Richardson’s book. – What’s different is the author’s voice.
Recognizing your voice
What makes your voice different? Most writers have things that make their voice different from another’s. Even if you are influenced by another author. Dorothy Dunnett is a prime example. Her books The Lymond Chronicles and the House of Niccolo have influenced so many writers. Before Phillipa Gregory or Cassandra Clare, Dunnett is the high priestess of palace intrigue. But she also has one of the most distinctive voices in modern literature. None of those other writers even attempt to sound like her.
Compare descriptive passages from The White House compared with The River Maiden
Description woven with action
Rhythm to the length of the sentences
Spare description
Included backstory
Finding Your Voice – How is your voice unique?
Exercise from Finding Your Voice – Rewrite a favorite passage from a classic book
What I’m Writing
Still Book4 – The finale
I would give you a link where you can get your own, but they are out of stock everywhere.
What I’m Reading
Not much actually, because Book 4
What I’m WatchingOuter Banks - Netflix
What I’m CraftingMy garden. – Greenhouse
