Voice

A long time ago, I went to the Tacoma Chapter RWA's Manresa Castle conference, and there I was one of two people who attended the "poetry in prose" workshop given by a local poet.  I sincerely pity the people who didn't attend.  There, I learned what voice was, and how to identify it, particularly my own. It's such a difficult thing to identify your own voice.  I wasn't sure until I attended this workshop, and that's after writing nine novels. This workshop literally changed my writing life.  It gave me one huge tool to work with and sparked  a lot of realizations about the interaction of voice and story structure.  It also gave me a lot more confidence than I had had about my writing, because I found my voice was already there in my books.

I don't think you cultivate your voice so much as discover it, although once you do understand what it is, you can work to make it stronger and more effective.  As beginning writers, you naturally copy the voice and style of those authors you like best--that's the learning process.  But your voice is made up of all the influences of your life: the books you've read, the part of the country in which you live, the dialect or language you speak and its rhythms, the music you listen to.  Think about all the sounds you've grown up with.  These things will influence your voice.

Think of the images in your life that speak to you most.  These also will influence your voice, because that's the source from which you take your metaphors and similes.

Voice is your natural sense of poetry--your own and others'.  This is the reason why you're clumsily told, "don't use adjectives or adverbs." You're rarely told why, and what effect this has on your work.  Of course, you can and should use adjectives and adverbs when you write, but not exclusively.  If you do, then you've stripped your story of your voice.  It's why I've instinctively railed against people trying to eliminate "wandering body parts" sentences entirely--it takes away yet another poetic device (idioms, metaphors, and similes) that aids one's voice.

Voice is also tied to the emotional pitch of your writing.  That is, when you are writing a particularly emotional or vivid scene, that's where your voice appears the strongest.  It's not something you can or even should maintain in every paragraph of your story, but it's something that rises and falls with the pacing and structure of the story.  When your voice ebbs and flows in sync with the structure, it contributes to narrative drive--that is, it's what keeps the reader turning the pages, even if the action is mundane.

Here are two examples of the same idea; one stripped of metaphors, similes, and most of the adverbs and adjectives (and thus, voice), the other as it was written:

"She sat in the drawing room at the pianoforte but did not play any music.  She looked out the window at the sky instead.  She didn't want to be here, and in fact felt unhappy and trapped.  She wished she could go away."

This paragraph is short and to the point, and that's fine.  Sometimes you want short and to the point.  However, it doesn't have as much emotion as:

"She sat in the drawing room, her hands on the keys of the pianoforte, but did not play.  Instead, she looked out of the window at the blue summer sky.  The panes formed small rectangles, the sun casting shadows on each edge--it looked like a cage.  But then a movement caught her eye:  swallows dove toward the house, outlined in each frame of window like quick sketches, then with a quick flick of their wings twisted away from the house and upward into the air.  She envied them; she wished she had  wings so swift that a mere glance of a wingtip would send her away."

Here, I don't say directly that she feels trapped or that she's unhappy.  But all the images combined--not playing music, looking out of windows that look like a cage, swallows flying away, and the repetition of the word "away," and "wing," etc.--give an impression of her emotional state. Note also that I use concrete images--I say "swallows" instead of just "birds."   Read both paragraphs aloud, and listen for a rhythm.  I think the latter paragraph is a bit more rhythmic.

This is voice.  My particular combination of rhythm, concrete images, metaphors, and similes used together to evoke a scene and infuse it with emotion.  You, no doubt, do it too.

Booksigning at The Unraveled Yarn, Federal Way, WA, February 2nd

This is to benefit Haitian Aid via World Vision.  And this is how this booksigning came about:


As I mentioned before, I'm moving to Germany, which means I have had to go through my humongous yarn stash and decide what to get rid of (sob!) and what I'm going to store, and what I'm going to take with me. I have a lot of very nice-quality yarn, and would prefer to give it to someone who would appreciate it. I'd already given my decent quality yarn (a huge 3' x 2' x 2' box) to a women's shelter up in Seattle (Church of Mary Magdalene) that has a knitting and crocheting circle for homeless women, but I had more, and this was the high-quality, hand-wash or dry-clean kind.

I immediately thought of The Unraveled Yarn in Federal Way, WA. I'd been to more than a few of their Knit Nights and had a blast; I also knew that they took in left-over yarn and made things for charities. So I thought, maybe they'd like my yarn, and certainly, they'd appreciate the quality. I just liked the owners, and they seemed like such happy and helpful people, even if it's smaller than some other stores. There is a real sense of fun and joy there.

So I brought in my yarn, and the two owner-sisters Annie and Karen were glad to take it. I told them to do whatever they wanted with it--sell it, give it away, use it themselves--because I sure didn't have the time to deal with it. I brought perhaps two more boxes and bags full of yarn and wool, which they could also use in their felting classes.

The last time I dropped off the wool and yarn, the gals told me they wanted to have a book signing for me in their store. I protested that my latest story in Chalice of Roses doesn't have any knitting in it, but they said that since I was a Knit Nighter, as far as they were concerned, I was one of them, and I needed a good send-off before I went to Germany. Besides, there were plenty of women in the group who read romance.

Well, the whole thing kind of snowballed, and now I'm going to have a book signing, and the gals notified the local newspapers, and it's actually going to benefit World Vision's aid to Haiti (World Vision's a local charity). So we're asking for donations, and I'm selling my latest plus backlist from my basement storage (thereby getting rid of more stuff before we leave for Germany--yay!) with the proceeds to go to World Vision, and people are invited to bring their knitting and crocheting, and have me sign books (I'm bringing my knitting, too--I've got to knit on Knit Night!).

The end result is a win-win for everyone involved. All because I knew The Unraveled Yarn knit things for charity. What goes around comes around, it seems. Is this fun or what? Definitely fun! And definitely a Pollyanna-ish event.

If anyone's in the area, the signing is on February 2nd, from 4 pm to 8 pm. Bring your knitting or crocheting, sit and stitch awhile! More details here:

http://www.unraveledshop.com/

I know it's going to be a blast. I always end up laughing my head off at Knit Nights, and leaving with a smile on my face. Come over and have some fun!

Breathlessly catching up...

Kind of. Between doing overtime at work, NaNoWriMo, and the resulting shoulder and back pain, I've kept my writing very limited. Gotta heal up before I jump back into writing again, and that includes my blogs. There is stuff I've written for my blogs prior to this, but I have to find the time to finish writing and upload them. Sigh. I'll back date them to their proper date-of-creation when I do, so they'll appear before this post.
Meanwhile, I have to get back to work.

Oh, one bit of news: the Grail anthology "A Chalice of Roses" (which includes my story, "Miss Templar and the Holy Grail," will be on the bookshelves the first week in January. So, if you want a fun wintertime Regency adventure, give it a try. It's one of my "kitchen sink" stories, where I had an assortment of random elements and gave myself the challenge of seeing whether I could incorporate them all. So: Regency (think Jane Austen/Georgette Heyer), Holy Grail, Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott, and "Where's Waldo."

I do love challenges like this. Tell me "you can't do that" in a story and chances are pretty good I'll think of a way I can.

I remember when someone told me "you can't put a vampire in a Regency romance." Oh, yeah.... Hee, hee, hee.

Harlequin vs. RWA and a little history

I've seen more than a few comments around the blogosphere, lists, and Twitter about how Romance Writers of America should have been more compromising with Harlequin, that it's making their Harlequin authors some how "not published."  How RWA has always been against innovation, and of course the perennial accusation comes in about how RWA hates ebooks.  RWA just needs to come into the 21st century!

You don't get it.  You really do not get it about RWA.

Let's take a look at their mission statement, right on their web site, up front:

Romance Writers of America is dedicated to advancing the professional interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy.

Notice the words "advancing the interests of career-focused romance writers."  Notice the word "networking" and really, really, really take note of "advocacy."

Click here for more

Harlequin vs. RWA

Jackie Kessler nailed it:

http://www.jackiekessler.com/blog/2009/11/19/harlequin-horizons-versus-rwa/


I'm pretty danged proud to be a member of Romance Writers of America right now--they've dropped Harlequin (HQ) from their recognized publisher list because of HQ's Harlequin Horizons vanity publishing venture.  Science Fiction Writers of America and Mystery Writers of America have followed RWA's lead.

The news is all over the blogosphere and fiercely Tweeted right now, and it's not showing to Harlequin's benefit.  Even the New Yorker is giving its two cents, and yeah, not so hot for HQ.

FWIW, I don't have a problem with self-publishing, nor do I even have a problem with vanity publishing.  They all have their place.  But if an agent did what HQ is doing, he or she would be drummed out of AAR.   RWA is an author advocate organization.  They can't go against their bylaws and mission and look the other way when even Harlequin--the world's largest romance publisher if not the world's largest publisher--does something detrimental to authors' interests.

And I've gotta say, even if you were determined to pay someone to publish your books, you could do it far, far less expensively than with Harlequin Horizons.  Less than half price, or so I'm told.

From what I understand, Torstar, Harlequin's parent company is seeing losses in the millions; Harlequin is the only company under Torstar that's seeing a profit and a healthy one at that.  I have no beef with any company making good money; I'm a capitalist at heart.  But I wonder if Torstar is pressuring Harlequin to go the vanity publishing route to so as to make more money to bail out their other failing companies.  Seems to me it's a sure way to kill the goose that's laying the golden eggs.  If one of your companies is failing, you either do what you can to fix it, or you drop it.  You don't go compromising the name and quality of the successful company to shore up the failing one. 

Harlequin's still a good publisher with which to publish your books--advances, international distribution, etc., are okay.  But not as a vanity publisher--not with the Horizon imprint.  The money should flow to the author; the author shouldn't have to pay to be published.

Good news - Romantic Times Top Pick!

Got word from my editor that A Chalice of Roses is a Romantic Times Top Pick, and the reviewer gave it 4 1/2 stars!  Very happy about that.  Oh, and the review said, "...these four formidable authors stretch their imaginations...to contribute to an anthology that lifts the human spirit."

I have always wanted to be formidable.  ;-D

Okay, enough of crowing...must get back to writing.  Yes, I'm trying to work on the NaNoWriMo, which is why I've been scarce here.  I very much doubt I'll get to 50,000 words (had a cold, had a charity event I had to work at, then had to do overtime at work, all of which exhausted my creativity, whine, whine, whine), but at least I have a good solid start to my novel (yes, a full novel), where I didn't before.  Wish me luck!

You know you're a writer when...

I just thought of this:  You know you’re a writer when “girls in the basement” does not mean what happens after 50 if you don’t wear a bra.