Name that author!

From their fantasy novels–can you name the author of each opening line?
Do you recognize their voices? (All published since2003)
1. Getting dressed was always the hardest part of the afternoon.
2. Jack woke before dawn and listened to the cold February wind lash the walls of the house.
3. Rain fell that night, a fine, whispering [...]

Why History Textbooks Put You to Sleep

Why History Textbooks Put You to Sleep
Ever wonder why history textbooks put you to sleep?
You might think that formal v. informal text vary based on the level of vocabulary and complexity of sentence structure. Some of that may come into play, but it more than that.
Rhythm patterns in formal texts are the key. [...]

Voice Experiments

One way that I play with voice is to mimic the style of another writer.  For this exercise, I write a section without worrying about voice.  Then, I take a couple of books I admire that I think might have a voice that would work for my story.  I try to imitate their style.
That is, I try [...]

POV and Voice

L asks: “Do you think an author’s ‘voice’ is easier to establish when a novel is written in 3rd POV omniscient than in 1st POV?
Just asking because in the writing of my current WIP novel, I felt that I had to find and stick with the MC’s voice, and now in the polishing – revising [...]

Voice Friday: Words for Your Voice

Voice Friday: Search Your Voice for Words
Words
Voice Friday: Word Choices
Voice Friday: Word Connotations
Voice Friday: Word Sounds
I’ve talked before about the importance of word choices in establishing voice. So, now, you’re editing your novel and you’ve decided that this word is the right diction, has the right connotations, and sounds right. There’s one more consideration.
Search Your [...]

Voice Friday: Lawyers

by Darcy Pattison
How would you start to create a voice for a character?  For example,  if you had a lawyer, you could list the cliched attributes of a lawyer’s voice:

overuse of passive voice
legalese jargon
overuse of qualifying prepositional phrases
long, complex-compound sentences

For example, a cliched lawyer might say, “Johnny was desirous of throwing a ball, a baseball [...]

Deeper into Voice

by Darcy Pattison
Q: How do you go deeper into a character’s voice?
A. I wonder if this question is about the character’s voice or about characterization in general. When a critiquer says you need to go deeper into a character’s voice, it could be either.
Characterization
If characterization is the problem, there are a couple things you might [...]

Voice: Questions?

by Darcy Pattison
Voice. It’s a confusing, complicated topic. Do you have questions you want discussed, dissected, batted around? I don’t always have answers, but I like thinking about the nuances of voice. Please post Voice questions or Revision questions here, or email me privately at darcy at darcypattison dot com. I’ll try to research and [...]

Voice Friday: Point of View

by Darcy Pattison
Does point of view affect voice? Yes. The current trend is to encourage first person point of view for young adult novels, and sometimes, I think this adversely affects the voice. The default for many years for novels was third-person point of view; you only when to first person when the attitude/personality of [...]

Voice: Rhythm made visible

by Darcy Pattison
Robert Frost says, “Good writing is good speaking caught alive.”
In other words, the pitch changes, intonation and rhythm pattern can carry the meaning of a sentence like, “Nice haircut.” You can say that phrase and by changing your intonation patterns you can give it different meanings: ironic, disapproving, enthusiastic.
How you say something–the pitch [...]