Questions Writers Get Asked: Which Is Most Important, “Voice” or “Story”?

I hear versions of this question quite a lot, most frequently in its first-cousin incarnation, “plot vs character?”

So here’s the thing about that little contraction vs. (versus) in its legal usage, e.g. Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce. You don’t say it as vs. What you say is, and:Jarndyce and Jarndyce.

Or, “plot and character” — which is pretty much as it should be, in my humble opinion.

So, too, for the “Voice or Story?” question. The way I see it, it’s all about “Voice and Story—and Character.”

Ther...