Quick Fiction Fixes – Writer’s Voice, part four
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 four:
On March 9th, I explained why I’m doing this series, and how short exercises to develop your writing voice can help you revise and add that oomph! to your manuscript. If you didn’t read my column that week, go read it now. It was very inspiring. 🙂
Your writer’s voice is what will capture the editor or agent who reads your manuscript from page one. That’s what you want.
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 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.
Discover your natural rhythm.
All of us have a natural cadence to our speech and thoughts. It’s a combination of our genes and environments. For every writer, it’s unique.
Write nonsense words in grammatically correct sentences, or do free-writing–keep the pen moving even if you just write nonsense or the same sentence over and over.
You’ll discover things about your voice. Your sentence length, your word choice. Alliteration, metaphors, similes. Twists of phrase, dialect.
Take some time to really analyze your writing rhythm. Sometimes it helps if you lay your writing aside for a day or a week before doing the analysis (if you’re busy and only have a few minutes here and there, you’ll probably have to lay it down until you have some free minutes another day).
Learn to be aware of these aspects of your voice’s cadence. Do this exercise a few times until you have several pieces to compare to each other. You might be amazed at what you find.
