Quick Fiction Fixes – Writer’s Voice, part one

We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle.

This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you!

Developing your writing voice, part one:

Not all writers think of their voice when they’re revising their story, but it’s one of the most important things that make you stand out to an editor or agent.

It’s often said that too much revision, or too many critique partners, can dilute a writer’s voice in their manuscript. This is absolutely true, and also important to avoid.

But the most common question I get from writers is how to find their voice. It’s not easy, and yet at the same time, it can be very easy if you can get your mind to a certain place.

You don’t have to get into some zen-state of uber-relaxation and heightened-creativity. Many people wouldn’t have time to do something that extensive, anyway.

I liked the book, Finding Your Writer’s Voice by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall. Not all the exercises resonated with me, but many of them were great to shift my thinking to a place where I could unleash my voice with more clarity and power.

So what does this have to do with Quick Fiction Fixes?

You can take a few minutes each day to work on developing your writing voice. Once you discover that voice, you can revise your manuscript to make sure your voice is in there, or maybe to rewrite so that your voice is stronger and more powerful.

Your writer’s voice is what will capture the editor or agent who reads your manuscript from page one. That’s what you want.

So I’ll be giving a handful of short, easy writing exercises that you can use to develop your writer’s voice in whatever few minutes you can snatch from your day.

I also suggest you buy the book (above) and keep it by your bathroom toilet to read. Don’t laugh! I get my best reading done in the quiet of the bathroom while I’m … er, doing my business.

Distill your raw voice.

Do automatic or free-writing writing. Write about anything—your manuscript, your kids, your job, your dog, your mother. Just write and don’t think.

Most importantly, write without censoring yourself.

Then put it away for a week.

Return to it and pull out words or phrases that grab your attention. Did you like how you described the summer flowers? Or maybe that phrase describing your annoying neighbor was particularly witty. Or maybe you just like the rhythm of that sentence about doing laundry.

Do another free-write with those key phrases and words. Again, write about anything—move away from the trigger words if you want. Write without thinking.

Put it away for another week.

Highlight the passages that speak to you again, and delete everything not highlighted. You should be left with writing that profoundly impacts you–your unique voice. If the writing still seems diluted, repeat the process.