Can You Hear Me Now? Developing Your Narrative Voice

By Janice Hardy 
Your narrative voice sets you apart from other writers.

Voice is one of those things that's easy to spot, but hard to define. There is no formula for it, no set of rules. Without a strong narrative voice, stories fall flat and you wind up with a lot of "Close, but it just didn't grab me as much as I'd hoped" type rejections. With a strong voice, your prose sings.

Voice is the feeling that there's a person behind the words. It's the judgment of the world around the characters and how they convey their opinions about that world to the reader. It's also the rhythm of the words they say, and the words you as the author choose. Is your writing casual or formal? Simple or complex? Flowery or basic? 
It's the little decisions you instinctively make while you write that make your writing sound like you.
So how do you do that?
Continue ReadingWritten by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com