Why does Voice matter?
- There’s a significant reader commitment when they “buy” your book – 12-24 hours of reading aloud, 6-12 hours spent silently in company of this voice
- There’s a significant author commitment too – lots more hours than that writing in this voice, so you’d better enjoy it
- Reader/author contract – you will make it worth the reader’s time (they’re paying you in time and money)
- Reader expectations –
- If it’s a legal contract, should be written in legaleze, but equally…
- The tale of a sweet old lady in small-town America probably shouldn’t devolve into pages of swearing
- A hard-bitten ex-marine story shouldn’t devolve into delicately phrased romantic pillow-talk
- And what about memoir? And what about when it’s not memoir and the comments say,“So sorry this happened to you…”
- How do we avoid being identified with first person narrator, vs.
- how do we prove we have the right to tell the tale? (Try, “I have some experiences in common with this character, but she isn’t me…”?)
Continue reading Narrative Voice – from Sheila Deeth’s talk, Feb 2019
