Over at Extreme Keyboarding, Camille Cannon Eide posts about voice. Read the comments for lots of great thoughts.
(spelling corrected on 12/29/08)
Showing posts with label Voice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Voice. Show all posts
Monday, December 22, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Andy Meisenheimer on Show and Tell
As a guest blogger on Rachelle Gardner's Blog, Zondervan fiction editor Andy Meisenheimer gives this and more on Show versus Tell:
Down in the comments, he adds this:
So he's using "Tell" to include viewpoint attitude or tone, rather than just being a level of detail or summary in the writing.
Interesting.
[Showing is...] Letting the audience put together the clues; presenting simply a sensory experience through the lenses of a character’s viewpoint. Passing no judgment, but allowing the characters to speak for themselves.
Down in the comments, he adds this:
Telling can be very useful. Think about when you tell a story to a friend over coffee. "So, my brother, right? He's totally paranoid. Get this--yesterday..." And instead of showing me paranoid, you told it to me, but that's the only way to make the following story funny or interesting or whatever. Telling is usually reflective of your point of view character.
So he's using "Tell" to include viewpoint attitude or tone, rather than just being a level of detail or summary in the writing.
Interesting.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
A Matter of Style
Over at Bookends, Gina Robinson has some important things to say about finding your voice.
Personally, I don't think that writers necessarily have only one voice. Some do, like Isaac Asimov or Jack Kerouac or Raymond Chandler. Some don't. For instance, I would argue that Sylvia Louise Engdahl has three distinct voices in Enchantress from the Stars, each as beautiful and worthy as the others.
Likewise, each of us has many voices we use in our daily lives: parent, employee, supervisor, child, parishioner, confidante. Why would we not have many voices as writers?
It's similar to the difference between a character actor and ... blagh, I can't find the opposite term... an actor with range? A "character actor" plays the same kind of roles, over and over and over, like Adam Sandler or Gary Cooper. Other kinds of actors are much harder to pigeonhole, like William H Macy or Peter Ustinov.
Now, admittedly, I am a beginner in terms of authorship. However, I think of voice more often as finding the voice of a particular character or story, rather than my voice. But what Gina Robinson says is very important, because it is a sign to finding which of your natural voices will work for your target audiences.
Go there. Enjoy.
Personally, I don't think that writers necessarily have only one voice. Some do, like Isaac Asimov or Jack Kerouac or Raymond Chandler. Some don't. For instance, I would argue that Sylvia Louise Engdahl has three distinct voices in Enchantress from the Stars, each as beautiful and worthy as the others.
Likewise, each of us has many voices we use in our daily lives: parent, employee, supervisor, child, parishioner, confidante. Why would we not have many voices as writers?
It's similar to the difference between a character actor and ... blagh, I can't find the opposite term... an actor with range? A "character actor" plays the same kind of roles, over and over and over, like Adam Sandler or Gary Cooper. Other kinds of actors are much harder to pigeonhole, like William H Macy or Peter Ustinov.
Now, admittedly, I am a beginner in terms of authorship. However, I think of voice more often as finding the voice of a particular character or story, rather than my voice. But what Gina Robinson says is very important, because it is a sign to finding which of your natural voices will work for your target audiences.
Go there. Enjoy.
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