Love Your Voice

HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR VOICE

Write, read, learn, then write some more. All of these can help you develop and hone your voice, but the act of writing is the number one way. Here are several writing exercises geared toward helping you develop your voice.
           
Exercise #1, TAP INTO YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS:  Keep a notebook or journal next to your bed. As soon as you wake up write for 10 to 15 minutes. Write anything that comes to you, don’t edit or prejudge, just write. Do this daily. You may surprise yourself with the creativity that comes out of you and the problems you solve while your dreams are still fresh.

Exercise #2, THE SMALL DETAILS:  Consider your next project—write a list of what your new heroine has in her purse and why it’s there. Do the same for your hero’s pockets/person.

What do these items say about your characters? How can these items illustrate your characters’ emotional conflict? During the course of the story do you think your characters will change the contents of their purse/ pockets/ person? How can you use these items in your story to illustrate their emotional growth?

Exercise #3, WRITE, EDIT, REVISE:  Write a 50-word opening to your next book. Now double the word count, add anywhere, begin sooner, end later and/or follow any detail you wish in between. Next, revise it back to 50 words, but not the exact same 50 words you started with. Repeat. What did you keep? What did you get rid of? What about these words appealed or did not appeal to you?

Exercise #4, MULTIPLE DRAFT WRITING:  Begin your next book by writing the opening scene in multiple drafts. In the first draft, tell the bare bones of the story as sparsely as possible. No dialogue, no description, just narrative or actions. In each succeeding draft add a layer (dialogue, setting, description, emotion, conflict). Keep each draft in its own document. When you’ve completed the scene, pull each layer out into its own document and examine how much of each element you include (action, dialogue, setting, description, emotion, confect, etc). Where could you add more? Which elements need to be trimmed back to create a better balanced piece? Can you see strengths and weaknesses?

It all adds up to building your voice. Which is really a lot like body-building…because you already have a body, same as you already have a voice. Still, you can improve both of them with exercises. And even though we writers might not care about how perfect our bodies look, we care about how well we can reach our readers. That’s what voice is all about…good luck with making the most of yours!

Exercise #5 – PACING YOURSELF:

What’s the speed of your pacing?  Is your pacing adding to the story or taking the reader’s attention away from it?  Too fast, too slow, bumpy?

Writing elements that slow down the pace:

Narrative.
Backstory.
Long, complicated sentences.
Long paragraphs.

Writing elements that speed up the pace:

Dialogue.
Short sentences.
Action.
White space on the page.

Good pacing is using these elements in proper proportion at the proper moments in the story.  Some of these elements are concerned with the writing itself (eg. narrative, dialogue), which makes sense.  But, some are concerned with the visual impact the words on the page make (short sentences versus long sentences).  What many writers don’t realize is that reading is physical, and if the pace is really slow OR really fast your eyes get tired.

Print off the first 3 pages of your WIP.  Gather a red pen, blue pen, pencil and a couple of highlighters.

Highlight all your narrative with one color.
Underline all your backstory in red.
Underline all your short sentences in blue. (yes, some sections will be highlighted or underlined multiple times).
Highlight your action in another color.
Underline all your long, complicated sentences in pencil.
Star the beginning and end of your long paragraphs with the red pen.

Now lay out all 3 pages on a table.  What do you see?

Are the elements balanced or are there one or two dominating elements?

The opening pages of any story needs to be brisk, but not a sprint.  You tell me, is your pace in these pages fast, slow or just right?

If, you’re not satisfied with the pace, what’s missing?  What do you need to add?

Exercise #6 – INTERVIEW YOUR CHARACTERS:

Ask your characters the following questions.  Immerse yourself into your character’s head.

1. If you could change one thing about your childhood, what would it be?
2. What was your New Year’s resolution this year?
3. What’s the number one thing on your goal list?
4. What did you want to be when you grew up?
5. Define wealthy?
6. What’s the one decision you’ve made that you regret the most and why?
7. Is there an illegal act you would joyfully commit and why?
8. What’s your favourite movie?
9. If you won the lottery today, would you quit your job?
10. What’s the name of your favourite book?

What did you learn about your characters?
What fits with your story and what doesn’t?
Do you need to change anything about your characters to make a better fit?

Exercise #7 – HAVE A CONVERSATION:

Pick your favorite famous person and write a one page conversation between them and your hero and another with your heroine.  Keep the dialogue as true to each person as possible.  You are only allowed to do ten minutes of research about each person before beginning the exercise, and you must complete the page in twenty minutes.

Mother Teresa.
Elvis Presley.
Julius Caesar.
Hillary Clinton.
Castro.
Gandhi.
Sir Edmond Hilary (the first man to summit Mt. Everest).
Mark Twain.
Martin Luther King.
Ann Boleyn (2nd wife of King Henry VIII).

Does the dialogue you write surprise you?   
What did you learn about your characters?

Exercise #8 – CONNECT WITH WHAT’S IMPORTANT:

Write a list of 100 questions that are important to you.  ANY KIND OF QUESTION AS LONG AS IT’S SIGNIFICANT TO YOU.  Write the entire list in one sitting.  Write quickly, don't worry about spelling, grammar or repeating a question in different words.

Why 100 questions? The first 20 or so will be off the top of your head. The next 30 or 40 will often show some common themes, and the last bunch will likely reveal unexpected, but profound questions you never knew you had in you.

What do your questions reveal about your beliefs, values and view of the world?

Take a look at your writing, does your core story stand out to you? 

What is your core story or theme?