All posts by NewEngland_Muse

I'm a traditionally and self published author. I write in the genre of children and YA at the moment but working my way up to adults. I'm a sports loving, photo taking gal who loves to sing/dance to my own enjoyment. I love to laugh even at myself. I am also owned by 8 birds and 2 hamsters, and yes they know it. :)
Definitions, Speaking, Story, Voice, Writing Style

Your Voice

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As writers do you know what your voice is?

According to Margaret Maron, creator of Judge Deborah Knott:

Voice is the most important ingredient in a successful book. The plot may be clever, but if the voice doesn’t engage us, how can we care?

According to John Morgan Wilson who writes the Benjamin Justice mystery series:

There is difference between voice and style though it is difficult to get at. To me voice is closer to attitude and the emotional quality of the prose, reflecting the personality of the author.

According to Chris Roerden:

The first step in developing your voice is not to add something but to identify the ineffective writing habit and techniques you’ve picked up over the years and get rid of them.

My Character Development instructor said he knew my voice and I did as well. Funny I thought to myself for my last instructor told me the same thing. This is a trend for people out of my writing groups concur with these teachers. How come everyone knows what my voice is but me? I try hard not to think on this and just write. Apparently I am accomplishing the voice subconsciously.

I have read numerous articles on this topic and when it seems the definition makes sense then a new article comes across my desk and destroys it

Jason Pinter , former St. Martin’s Press editor states:

Voice is the conversational quality of your writing, the way you “talk” to your reader. It’s as important in writing as it is in conversing aloud with someone or speaking to a group. If your voice isn’t confident, assured, authoritative, natural, and appropriate for your characters and story, the writing will feel stilted, forced, ragged, weak, awkward. Just as speaking aloud is ineffective if one is halting, hesitant, lacking in confidence, and so on .

This one makes sense to me since for now I can’t verbally express my definition of the voice. One good way is to read your story aloud. It may sound silly but it is a good way to hear one’s errors, pace and flow. Perhaps a writer will discover their voice.

Will I ever be able to describe this important ingredient to others, I do not know. Hopefully though my voice is being written loud and clear in my writings.

Book, Creative Writing, Editing, NaNoEdMo, NaNoWriMo, Writing

NaNoEdMo 2012

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In November 2011 I tried my first NaNoWriMo. I was not properly prepared to do so only deciding two weeks prior to attempt this. What happened was a month long of worry, stress, lack of sleep, physical pain due to my illnesses and my mood being out of whack. When it ended I was not sure if this would be tried again. If so then better preparation would have to be in place. But what I got out of it was a novel over 50k long and one I have added to since then.

In February a friend informed me about NaNoEdMo for March. I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity for me to edit my book from November. I mean after all the only the thing required was to log in 50 hours of editing in the month of March. That broke down to 97 minutes per day.

Easy! I can do that. After all I had survived NaNoEdMo 2011 and won. I totally underestimated my hatred of editing. While it is necessary function for a writer, it is one that is loathed to all depths of the word. But by March 30th I completed the task of this particular frenzy. My novel that is 132 pages, though it is not complete yet, had 101 pages edited. For me that is a big Homer Simpson WOOHOO!

While this is just my first draft and revision the feeling of getting this done is priceless. On Sunday I woke up expecting to edit and realized that the deadline was done and over. I could now concentrate on other aspects of my writing. But the empty space stayed with me the whole day feeling the need to sit in front of my computer and edit. Curses I thought to myself. The fiend won’t let me go so easily.

Antagonist, Character Development, Characters, Class, Creating Real Life Characters, Creative Writing, Critique, Inner Life, Plot, Viewing Pleasure, Writers, Writing, Writing class

Character Development Class Finished

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Eight weeks ago I signed up for a Character Development class. I had taken this instructor before and had learned a lot from him. In the short span the following was taught:

-Character Development

-Creating Real Life Characters

-Bringing a Character to Life

-Characters creating the plot

-The Villain

-The Character/Inner Life

The last two weeks we concentrated on the story that was growing by each passing session. We had a story that had been created by groups and the overall story that as individuals we were nurturing.

By the time the class ended I had a story of over 5K words. It is in a genre that I have never truly tried before which is action and drama. Well not one of this length anyway. The critiques the class gave me on the last day when I read the WIP was favorable and I will probably when there is time, feel free to laugh here, to expand it into a novel.

This class has caused me much sorry and joy. I truly had a love hate relationship with it. There would be weeks where my teacher would say “ Yes yes you nailed it.” to “No, you missed the boat this time.”

I learned that there is so much more for me to discover. Also it showed me that there are some aspects that I am getting right. In the last eight weeks I have shared with you my class notes taken each time there was a lecture. I hope some of what was shared on this blog has helped someone along the way.

Telling him I would take this class again my instructor asked why. Simple answer really. Every time a class is taken over, I am starting at a different place with a better understanding of what I am trying to accomplish. I have never worked this hard for a writing class in my life. That is a good thing, right?

By doing so I had growth in my writing.