I am the AREA 6 Representative for Pennwriters. I know, sounds important. Well, it kind of is, to me anyways. Pennwriters is an organization for Pennsylvania writers. It's broken up into areas. I cover The entire City of Philadelphia, the surrounding suburbs, and people from Jersey and Delaware who are members. There are actually lots of members from outside PA, anyone can join really. They have a great annual conference. Janet Reid was there this year. Good stuff I assure ye.
We have lots of talented writers, lots. It's taken me a while, but I am trying to read up on all my local members. I got a great email from Mary Shafer, a pubbed author and member. She wished me luck as the new Rep. It was sweet. So, I check out her author website and blog. Boy was I glad I did.
She did a great post on voice. I had me looking at the topic from a different POV. The subject of her post just happened to be one of my favorite Reality Chefs, Anthony Bourdain. Love him or hate him, he is his own man, WITH HIS OWN VOICE. I love his voice, and I think he's kind of adorable, hot actually.
We think of voice, as fiction writers, as us. Everyone has a voice. Even non-writers. Even Grandma and that annoying neighbor who gets the morning paper in his barely tied robe. Gross, thank you. One word, MANSCAPING. I digress.
Mary said this on her post about voice, "Bourdain admitted in yesterday’s episode that he never 'agonizes over craft' in writing. He doesn’t need to. He’s not reaching for literary immortality. But his use of voice and language is so uniquely his own, I posit that his writing is at least as exciting and evocative as that of many classic novels."YES MARY! YES! This is what I love about the man. I don't want to be some literary great. I mean if peeps are reading my work years from now, that'd be awesome. But, I just have this love story about two people on the Jersey Shore and their crazy families. I am so caught up in rejections, contests, and getting it right for this partial, that I am losing ME. MY VOICE.
You have to read this, it's such an eye opener on VOICE. The most important tool we have as writers. Agents and pubs are always looking for the next GREAT VOICE.
And, thanks Mary for the email. It really was sweet and by trying to get to know you better, I find out more about myself as a writer. Huh, imagine that.
Link to post: http://maryshafer.thewordforge.com/blog/?p=117
Here are some great clips of Anthony Bourdain. Listen to his voice...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmUwXzcmHdA&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0iys-vgD6M&feature=channel
Lady, amen!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're ready to go back to your writing roots. :)
ReplyDeleteTis been a struggle, I will not lie lassies. But this fellow author's post really hit home.
ReplyDeleteWhen you step out of this author box we place ourselves in and listen close, to others, our own voice, we can grasp the whole VOICE concept.
I really love Anthony Bourdain. It's his wit, insight, his actual sound that pulls me in. Mary hit the nail on the head with her post.
And today I wrote forgetting about that partial, the rules, and wrote for the sheer pleasure and I had fun doing it.
Will AJ JAWS the crapout of it. You bet. But today was grand lassies, grand indeed. ;)
Hey ya, C. Yeah, I've noticed the more I get stuff pointed out to me on my MS, my voice is shifting--changing--and that erks the crap out of me. I'm making a stronger effort to not allow that to happen.
ReplyDeleteBrenda
Charli, thanks so much for the shout out -- glad you enjoyed that post on First Draft! While we're on the subject, here's some more good stuff on voice:
ReplyDeleteAn older post from when I initially launched First Draft, about the importance of carrying your author's voice over into your promo copy, specifically, your website (which, BTW, you do a fantastic job of!):
http://maryshafer.thewordforge.com/blog/?p=72
And something from a friend of horror writer Jonathan Maberry, a colleague of mine:
http://liarsclubphilly.com/?p=1236
Thanks again for the linkback, and hope you drop by again soon! Looking forward to working with you in PennWriters!
Mary Shafer