Anthony Romaniw asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Hi Lois! I'm really trying to take a crack at writing. I seem to find inspiration in everything these days. I literally can't have a conversation with someone or go for a walk without wanting to capture the experience in a story. But I've found that I'm extremely uncomfortable with my voice on the page. Everything feels too autobiographical, and preachy, and ultimately unimportant. Have you ever experienced this? :)

Lois McMaster Bujold Good luck on the writing! A very practical font of advice may be found on Pat Wrede's blog, here:

http://www.pcwrede.com/blog/

Go back to the beginning and read in small bites, or, if you want the fast-forward version, there's this:

http://www.amazon.com/Wrede-Writing-T...

In general, my characters seem to have their own voices and opinions, to which mine are necessarily subordinate. I owe them the most honesty I can muster, and everything I know (at the time.) I find this more liberating than uncomfortable, although that may be some species of displacement. I have to forget the audience and my careful social-self while I am writing, although readers certainly come to the forefront of my thoughts when it's time for marketing, or for watching their reactions to find out what I've written.

I think Pat has some posts in the book I just rec'd, or certainly on her blog, on the problems of keeping the internal editor from crippling the internal writer. I am also reminded of a complaint from long-time Analog editor Stan Schmidt, frustrated about writers coming up to him and explaining that they didn't send him this or that tale because "it didn't seem like an Analog story." "It's not your job to reject stories for my magazine -- it's mine!"

Ta, L.

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