Tag-Archive for » voice «
It literally just dawned on me as I was reading something in first person. Just now. Like I’m not reading a book in first as we speak but that’s besides the point. Sometimes things take a little while for me.
I don’t like using first person POV because, reading it, it sounds absolutely ridiculous. When I snap into writer mode, I’m looking at first person and going, is that how the character is really thinking? “Sun rays danced across the ground like faeries in a circle.” Really? If I think that way then I can’t help but think of the Family Guy episode where Peter narrates his own life. Equally as ridiculous.
If it’s not thought presently but maybe the MC relaying information after the fact, then they really talk like that? Really? Star-freckled skies? Really?
It just doesn’t make sense to me. First person is as intimate as you can get with a character. You’re literally inside their brains as they’re going through the story. When they’re going through the actions, do they really think all of that in such a verbose way? Really?
When I snap out of writer mode, it’s fine and some damn good writing. Of course I can read through it just fine. But writer mode keeps poking through the screen going WTF?!
Maybe I’m being way too technical here. First person is inside the character’s head. In the character’s voice. Sometimes I can’t help but think what pretentious asses characters are when they spout off internally like that. At the same time the same thing could be said for third person limited. Sort of. You’re not in the head there. More like on it. Same character voice but you’re not squishing the brain.
I mean, dialogue is one thing but when people shut their mouths, you have to wonder what’s running through their heads and if it’s anywhere near as loquacious as some of these first person narratives make them out to be. I have a hard time believing they all are but writers have to stretch their creative fingers somehow, right? I just have a hard time believing even fictional characters are running that high all the time.
One of the tips that one of my betas gave me was to read books in third person limited told in the voice of the MC in order to get a sense of staying within the eye of the voice and keep it authentic. That’s a no brainer, right? That’s how you learn, by learning from others. I’m reading a book now, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, that’s told from the third person limited of a nine-year-old boy. Perfect example, right?
Wrong.
There are things in this POV that no nine-year-old would say or think. Definite deviations from the POV. Not to mention the head-hopping that happens roughly every other chapter. And then I go *headdesk*. How can you try to learn from others when the others are doing the things you’re trying not to do?
This then, inevitably, plays into the “why can they break the rules and I can’t”? I don’t have an answer. Yes, it’s a good story but when my manuscript is getting red-penned for things that are happening in the already-published book I hold in my hand, it’s a little frustrating. All I can say is at least my head-hopping isn’t as bad.
I know the noobs are supposed to play by the rules when they’re first starting out since rule-breakers that make it are few and far between but seeing stuff like this doesn’t make it easy. Do I have a choice but to just stuck it up and eliminate all traces of an escaping voice?
Well, I’ve had a rather blatant shift in tone in Diamond Crier. It just decided to tell me to go screw myself and shifted. The thing is, it’s not like I didn’t see this coming. The other three novels have a similar tone, kind of snarky, a little humorous with a little serious but balanced. This one was supposed to be pure serious and I fought the snark incessantly. I don’t know why I wanted to maintain a different voice, maybe because of a “should” I had, that this story “should” sound like this. Or perhaps it was because of the original pieces I wrote for the story. They were very serious, and very dark, and so I began writing the story around those two pieces of short fiction.
The thing is, logic came into play on the dark aspects. Like I mentioned in a previous post (I think), my evil overlord can’t abuse the Criers because they won’t manufacture tears like they should and they’ll die a lot sooner than he wanted them to. So the dark toned down. Then when I started reading Rachel Vater’s blog , she kept asking questions like, “When was the last time you recommended something dark and dreary all the way through to a friend?” And I went, “well I like the dark and dreary, but I see your point.” Misery loves company but how many people read for the misery? Unless it’s Misery?
Oh the irony of posting an article on web serials and then me taking mine down. That’s not to say to stop reading them. Please don’t but I just couldn’t take mine anymore.
It’s not that the time constraints were getting to me, not really. It was the work itself. I hated it. Loved the idea, still do but I’ll be damned if I let something that sub par represent my writing. The worst of it? The voice. I addressed this concern earlier here and I was hoping I’d be able to work through it and I sort of lied to myself and rationalized and hoped that I was just being a little over-critical of my work when deep down, I knew it was as bad as I thought it was. When a review confirmed my suspicions, I said screw it, it’s not worth it.
To write in general is certainly worth it but to continually put effort into something I just don’t like purely for the sake of time management is simply a waste of my time, especially when I put my WIP on hold every other week on order to write and edit the next chapter in this series. I want to write something that I know has an inkling of a chance to make it to the end and pretty much everything except that serial has that chance in spades. With my WIP, from the little snippets of descriptions I’ve given and the sample pieces that I’ve had critiqued, it’s generated a bit of a buzz and gotten people interested already. Yay! Granted the stories morphed significantly from those initial writing pieces (which I will post here eventually) but the concept, the idea and where I’m taking it has got people intrigued by it. But most importantly, I’m happy with the story I’m creating and the words that I’m writing even though they’re crap.
Not really crap but yes, crap. It’s a first draft. No one’s eyes will see this version except my own and I’m purposely just pumping the story out in order to just get it out. It’s sub par but that’s what edits are for, as well as rewrites. But the fact is I’m excited about the crap. I’ll probably pee a little with the finished product at this rate.
If you’re a regular to my blog, you know that I’m experimenting with a web serial called Dawn, the link of which can be found on the Serials page in the sidebar. If you’re new or didn’t know that, now you do.
Well, it seems that I’ve run into a bit of a snag. I think the voice in this story is a bit stilted, a little too hoity toity for what I want to say. I tried working on this last night. Had a false start on a later chapter and tried to rewrite it to suit the mood as opposed to the voice that keeps coming out. In other words, I tried to force it to do something it didn’t want to do. Bad idea.
It forced back, essentially telling me this is the voice for this story and to cut the shit and just write it. The thing is I’m not really happy with the voice but at the same time when I force it, I get half-assed writing that I don’t like either. I have a very strong feeling that once I start writing the vampire parts, the voice is going to change dramatically but I’m thinking along the lines of readers. Will they stick around long enough to read it change?
