Category Archives: Voice
Improve Your Novel Writing: 11 Tips For Newbies
Writing a novel is flipping difficult. It often takes years to complete your first novel (and even more years after that to write a good one). You heard that right — writers’ first books are usually a hot mess. That … Continue reading
Writers, Remember: The Wand Chooses The Wizard
When we choose a writing career, naturally we want to find our footing quickly. But this can cause us to pay too much attention to what other authors are doing in hopes of finding the magic of success. Michelle Barker … Continue reading
Rules? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Rules
After we’ve been writing for a while, we’ve heard our share of writing rules. Sometimes we’re taught to avoid certain techniques, like prologues. Or we might be told that some storytelling approaches are too risky, such as using second-person point … Continue reading
The Mother Lode of First Page Resources
As many of you know, I run a monthly critique contest here at the blog, where I offer to read first pages and share my feedback. People are so grateful to win, but I have to ask: who’s the real … Continue reading
Where’s Your Edge?
Some of my most enjoyable teaching experiences were with my friends Donald Maass and Christopher Vogler doing Story Masters, a four-day immersion in the craft of fiction. For my day of instruction, I started off showing a clip from the … Continue reading
Diversifying Your Characters’ Voices
“Voice” is one of the things we authors agonize over—finding the character’s unique and authentic way of speaking. It’s especially critical to get this right when we’re writing in multiple viewpoints, so each character sounds like him or herself and … Continue reading
Finding Your Voice Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
A short while ago, I was contacted by someone working with Jerry B. Jenkins about him posting at our site. !! When a prolific and successful author reaches out to YOU, it’s kind of surreal, and you jump at the … Continue reading
Voice: The Soul of your Story
One of my favorite parts of writing conferences is the first-page critique session—when attendees anonymously submit their first pages and a panel of editors, agents, and industry pros critique them for the whole group. It’s interesting, because the panelists always complain … Continue reading
Shannon Messenger: Writing ‘Kid’ Voice
I am so pleased to welcome Shannon Messenger to the blog today! Shannon is a wonderfully supportive writer who is doing big things in the kid lit world. Not only is book 1 of her MG series, Keeper of the … Continue reading
Voice Tips from the Pros
I haven’t been to a conference in years. Finances and babies conspired to keep me from attending. But this spring, I figured that enough was enough, and last weekend I went to the SCBWI Florida conference in Orlando. There, I … Continue reading