Voice by Leia Shaw

In the writing world, there are two types of voices we frequently talk about. One is the writer voice. The writer voice is the writer’s style. Slang, uniqueness, dialogue, etc. It’s difficult to explain because our writing has to change with our characters/genre/time period but there is something every author has that makes them different, that makes them who they are. You may not be able to put your finger on it, but it’s there.

Then there’s character voice. And this is one is huge for romance writers. Most romance writers narrate in at least one character’s point of view (POV), and many do two (the heroine and the hero alternating). In a plot oriented book that’s told from an omnicient POV, the book will mainly sound like the author’s voice. But with a character-driven story where the character(s) narrates the book, they better have their own “voice” too.

So what’s a character voice?

It’s the speech and thought patterns of a particular character. For example, a 16 year old teenage girl might use terms like, oh my god, shut up, and that sucks. But a 85 year old most likely wouldn’t dare. And a character who has ADHD might think in short clipped sentences and go off topic a lot, while an intellectual literary professor might use big words and make a lot of references to books. The patterns and idiosyncrasies every person (writer or not) has makes them unique, gives them character, and tells us information about them.

Both are important. One makes you, as the author, memorable. The other makes your book (or character) memorable.

Well, character voice is where I’m struggling right now. Through some divine inspiration (or maybe it was bad seafood) I decided I should write a YA that involves mental health issues. And that has led me to facepalming over and over as I stare, discouraged and confused, at the first chapter of my manuscript, wondering why the fuck I would want to write something in a 17 year old male’s point of view.

I have been many things in my 32 years. I’d list them but it would take a long time and only scare you. And I can imagine myself as a great deal of others things. But for some reason, I can not wrap my head around a 17 year old guy. So now I’m deciding whether the story needs to be told from his perspective or not. It would be easier to write it from the girl’s POV, in first person, and cut him out, but I’m not into doing things the easy way if it’s not the right way.

But if it’s the right way, then fuck yeah, I’m going for the easy way.

Anyway, I have some serious thinking to do. Probably some reading to do. And some writing then deleting then rewriting to do.

So have you ever found a “voice” that you struggled to write? Did you avoid it or learn how or what?

Filed under: romance