Windows and Meetings of the Mind
What then is the good of–what is even the defence for–
occupying our hearts with stories of what never happened
and entering vicariously into feelings which we should try to avoid . . . ?
Or of fixing our inner eye earnestly on things that can never exist . . . ?
The nearest I have yet got to an answer is that we seek an enlargement of our being.
We want to be more than ourselves. . . . We want to see with other eyes,
to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts,
as well as with our own. . . .
We demand windows. . . .
–C. S. Lewis
(quoted in The Christian Imagination,
Leland Ryken, Editor)
The Christian faith is one about words, stories, and language. What other religion calls their god the Word? I firmly believe that the main reasons we humans love stories–both reading and writing them–is because God loves stories. Don’t believe me? Let me refer you to the gospels where are recorded the parables (i.e., stories) Jesus told when trying to illustrate difficult theological points to His followers. Still don’t believe me? Uh, how about the fact that we have that BOOK at all? God chose to reveal Himself to future generations through written words–and used the episodes and (mis-)adventures of His people to do so. More of the Bible is dedicated to revealing who and what God is through episodic events than through expository language . . . more showing, less telling.
When writing, I like to have images of my characters’ houses as part of my storyboards, so that I can easily call to mind the setting. In looking at real estate listings with images of the homes available, I discovered that apparently, in the midwest, it used to be popular to build houses with very few, small windows . . . or at least there were many of them in several different areas all on the market right now. Even though I keep my curtains closed–especially in the front of the house–most of the time, I love the fact that I have two windows in every room of my small house, and one in the bathroom. Having lived in an apartment (one window in the bedroom, sliding glass door in the living room) and a duplex (windows only on one side of the apartment) for eight years, I love the fact that I can see out all sides of my house. Not that the view is that great, but still . . . it means there’s nothing blocking my ability to see out, to look out upon the “other worlds” of my neighbors’ yards, or my backyard or front yard. I would feel so blocked in, cooped up, in a house with just a few, small windows–it would seem dark and suffocating.
This would be what the world would be like without stories. Stories open up the curtains that separate us from the rest of creation and let us experience what it’s like to be someone else, to think like someone else, to “see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts,” as Lewis put it. Steven King, in On Writing, calls it, “Telepathy, of course. . . . I’m writing the first draft of this part at my desk . . . on a snow morning in December of 1997. . . . You are somwhere downstream on the timeline from me. . . . Let’s assume that you’re in your favorite [reading] place . . . We’re not even in the same year together, let alone the same room . . . except we are together. We’re close. We’re having a meeting of the minds.”
This “window” or “meeting of the minds” is unique to humans. Kids at summer camp tell ghost stories after lights-out–why? Because it’s fun, because of the adrenaline rush fear brings . . . and because it’s a way for everyone in the room to be thinking and feeling the same thing. We have certain friends we think of when we see funny bumper stickers (“Oh, I have to e-mail Corie about that when I get home!”). Or how many times have you walked into the house/office/church or wherever saying, “You’re never going to belive what just happened to me,” and then launch into a story of your near-miss with a cement truck or the man who just handed you $100 for returning his lost wallet?
Stories transcend spoken language; they transfix the mind; they transport us to other places, other times; they touch places inside of us we’ve never before experienced. Bookclubs–those where the members meet to discuss the book they’ve read, whether face-to-face or online–are so popular because having read the same story gives us something in common with someone we might never have connected with before . . . even if we don’t agree on it!
I believe one of the reasons writers seek out the company of other writers is because we long for this kind of connection, this kind of “meeting of the minds” that transcends casual acquaintanceship. We seek a relationship based on a shared experience–based on the desire not just to look through the “windows” but to throw them open, to invite our neighbors to look out of their windows in through ours.
As you drive through a neighborhood at night, when you see a house with the lights on and the windows open, it’s so easy to see inside, to see the people who live there. This is what we as writers do–leave the windows open so that readers can have some peek at what we are inside.
Inspiration: The Breath of Life
This past weekend was the monthly meeting of my local group of writers, Middle Tennessee Christian Writers. Whenever we’re together, we always talk about our current works in progress or story ideas we’re thinking of. Sometimes, these turn into brainstorming sessions when someone is having trouble with a particular plot-point or character. Most months, I think we all leave with so many fresh ideas swimming in our heads that we have to go home and write before we lose the spark of inspiration.
But what is the “spark of inspiration”? What is it about us creative-types that leads us into wild flights of fancy from something as simple as an overheard sentence or as complex as the Revolutionary War?
Sure, there’s the whole left-brain/right-brain science where those who are lefties are more analytical and those who are righties are more creative–but where does that leave those of us who are firmly in the middle? It must be more than just which hemisphere of our brains dominates our thought processes.
If you type “define:inspiration” into Google, there are lots of interesting results:
- arousal of the mind to special unusual activity or creativity
- a sudden intuition
- an unusual or rare occurrence or fact, often one that cannot be explained
- The process by which the lungs take in air
- To breathe into, to breathe, to animate or enthuse, the action of the Holy Ghost moving through all the soul’s vehicles on every inhalation of the Holy Breath
I love that the same word we use to describe how we come up with ideas for our stories means the same thing as breathing. In Genesis, we read:
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27, NASB)
God created. We have creativity built into us. In His image. Image . . . imagination. We can think of things that are abstract, even make things up because we are images of Him. But there is, oh, so much more than creativity and imagination.
The LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7, NASB)
God spoke everything else into being–every other living, breathing creation came into being because God spoke. But Adam received inspiration–the very breath, the very life force–of God.
When we see a beautiful Tennessee sunset and call it inspiring, it is God breathing His breath of life into us. When we are inspired to pray or to share Christ with someone, it is the breath of God filling our lungs. And when the inspiration for a story strikes, it is God’s breath tickling our ears as He whispers, “Write it. I will give you the words.”
(Narrative) Debt and Simple vs. Compound Interest
I think somewhere back in my education, I took some kind of bookkeeping or accounting course—or maybe it was in a math class. What I do vaguely remember learning is the concept of simple versus compound interest. Now, I know it’s more complex than this, but here’s my understanding of it:
Simple Interest: Interest accrues only on the original amount of the debt.
Compound Interest: Interest accrues not only on the original amount, but on the growing total as interest that is not paid off builds up each month (or whatever the debt’s term is).
Now, I know most writers have just read this and thought—eew, I didn’t come here to read about economics.
WAIT! Before you click away, lemme ’splain what I’m talking about.
When we write, every time we introduce a question or a conflict to the story, we are incurring what’s known as narrative debt—in other words, we are building up toward the payoff at the end in the climax, where all of the reader’s expectations will be (or should be) paid in full. When we incur this debt, we have two choices when it comes to the “interest” that goes along with it: simple or compound.
With simple narrative interest, the debt is paid off by the end of the scene/chapter—in other words, the question is answered, the conflict managed/solved before the next chapter starts. The lost dog is found, the contract on the house comes through, the long-anticipated event goes well.
But the underlying foundation of most plots is compound narrative interest—some conflicts or questions linger and the interest compiles and compiles until you have to pay it off or risk losing your reader. This is like maxing out a credit card and then only paying the minimum payment each month. Yes, you’re keeping your account alive and in “good standing” but you’re not paying it off. It’s a big debt-monster sitting there waiting to devour . . . wait, this is about writing, sorry—flashbacks.
Take, for instance, the Suspense genre. Not only are there going to be breathtaking, spine-chilling scenes where our heroes or heroines are in peril, but then—whew!—are safe again, there is an undertone—a compounding interest—of unease or fear that pervades the entire narrative. Even when things seem to be going well, the reader can sense something isn’t quite right. This can be done through tone—through the words the writer chooses to use in the narrative (see my series on Showing vs. Telling for more hints on how to do this). It’s like the duh-dut, duh-dut of the theme song for the movie Jaws. When first watching the movie, you may not even notice the score. But then subconsciously, every time that music starts, you know something bad is going to happen.
Even though we want to avoid both of them in real life, in writing we want both types of interest—the simple interest to keep the reader satisfied with little payoffs that keep the story moving forward, along with the compound interest that keeps the reader turning pages because they have to find out how the ultimate debt of the story will be paid off.
As we solve conflicts or answer questions in our narrative, we should always keep in mind how these solutions/answers feed into the compounding narrative debt. The best way to do this is to create new conflicts or questions with the resolution of the one that came before. If the heroine gets out of one scrape, the escape may create two new ones down the road.
Unlike in life, in writing incurring debt is a good thing. Just like in life, paying it off is a very good thing.
A Shattered Life
With our lives so dependent upon cars, sometimes we can’t help but see things that affect us profoundly as we travel the roads.
I can’t say this falls into the “profound” category, but it did give me a good idea for the blog. You see, on my way home for lunch today, I happened to see, in the middle of the turn lane to get onto the interstate, a shattered box and board of the game Life. Aside from the obvious irony and humor pertaining to this, the puns and jokes that immediately sprang to mind made me start thinking about what had most likely happened.
You see, this Life I saw was shattered, broken, purely from neglect. Someone moving probably put it in the back of an open-bed pickup truck and as they picked up speed, it blew out. Or, perhaps, someone staying at one of the hotels near that intersection meant to put it in the car before getting back on the road, but it only made it as far as the roof of the car and . . . it blew off onto the road, the box popping open, board and game pieces flying everywhere, subject to being run over by the hundreds of cars that pass through that intersection every hour.
How many times have we felt like that board game—neglected, forgotten, left to be smashed on the asphalt, run over by all comers? Or if it’s not being neglected and forgotten by others, what parts of our own lives have we pushed back to the back burner (or put back into the pantry) because we don’t have the time or energy to deal with them? It may be anything from cleaning the house, to writing that manuscript you started six months ago, to finishing your education, to calling your mom. Neglecting even the things in our lives that seem trivial can be just as damaging to us as procrastinating on the big things.
So what’s my point?
Well, I’ve now been on my schedule for two weeks. I have averaged writing 1,071 words per day . . . making myself sit down and write even on the days when I didn’t want to. I have figured out some activities I’ve been involved in that I needed to resign from and have done so. I have started walking for exercise almost every day (Wednesdays being the exception because of church). I’ve caught up with some old friends and made the time to meet up with new ones.
I’m busier now than I was before I put myself on a schedule, even though I’ve dropped a couple of responsibilities—but that’s because I’ve scheduled in the time for those areas of my life I’d been neglecting . . . before they blew away and shattered on the road of life.
Polishing Silver
It is rare in a writer’s life to find people who truly “get” us. Non-writers just don’t understand the urgent need that overwhelms us, when at a restaurant, to suddenly whip out a pen and begin frantically scribbling on a napkin (hopefully paper). We haunt bookstores like artists haunt galleries and musicians frequent the eclectic music store on the corner. And heaven help our non-writing friends or family when we are out and happen to come across another writer.
But even within the community of writers, we don’t always “get” one another. There are plenty of authors I love to death, personally, but I just can’t get into their stories. Or some whose writing I adore, but I’ve reconciled myself to the fact we’ll never be friends.
Which is why when we do find those writers who fit both sides, we are blessed.
I have worked with quite a few critique partners over the years. My first experience was in 2003 when I met two wonderful women at the ACRW conference in Houston. I had just started writing Happy Endings Inc., my fourth manuscript. The three of us decided to try out being critique partners—and it was wonderful. We each wrote different genres (romance, romantic suspense, and women’s fiction), and that helped us be able to spot things in each other’s work someone writing the same genre might have missed. Once I started grad school, though, and had the work of fellow students to critique, I had to resign from that first crit group.
In the four writing terms of grad school, I worked with eight different people in addition to two faculty mentors. The classes I took those two years were wonderful and taught me about craft, but it was through the critiquing process my writing really improved.
When I finished, I contacted my pre-school crit partners, but things just didn’t fall into place the way they had before. It just wasn’t right this time. So I prayed about it, asking God to lead me to the right critique group.
Then, through the ACFW forums and discovering each other’s blogs, I met two sisters-of-the-soul. Once we got to know each other and figured out we liked what we’d seen of each other’s writing ability through our blogs, we agreed to try critiquing.
Let me tell you, these women have blown me away, not only by their writing skills and wonderful stories, but by their thoughtful and knowledgeable comments. In Friends for the Journey, Luci Shaw quotes a journal entry where she recounts an idea that came to her while polishing Madeleine L’Engle’s silver candlesticks:
Suddenly I realize I’m dealing with more than “just” candlesticks; I’m coming to think of it as “polishing Madeleine.” Then I notice something I’ve missed before, her name . . . inscribed, faint but dark on two of the four . . . and the idea of the polishing of a friend and a friendship, turns even truer. It’s a variation on the theme of the biblical proverb: “As iron sharpens iron, so the heart of friend with friend.”
Though we may need a kind of corrective sharpening from each other from time to time, polishing is a gentler art. As writers, critics, editors, wordsmiths, we polish each other’s phrases and ideas . . .our roles of writer and editor reverse—often easily, effortlessly. And we continue to luster each other to a shine . . . we have polished each other like silver, with soft cloths, with loving attention.
Erica, Georgiana, and I have only bee critiquing each other’s work for about a month. With most critique groups, that’s not long enough to get beyond the walking-on-eggshells stage. But with this group, it feels like we’ve been together for years. We snark, express our emotional reactions to the scenes, mark where we have questions, or make suggestions where we find something that just doesn’t work.
So today, I just wanted to take the time to publicly thank God for my two fellow silver polishers, Georgiana Daniels and Erica Vetsch. Get to know their names, because you’ll be buying their books one of these days!
Friendly Characters
I don’t remember having “imaginary friends” per se when growing up, but I do remember that I preferred to play alone because it was too hard to try to explain what I was imagining to others.
What’s got me thinking about childhood friends? Well, I’m in the middle of editing a book that’s a compilation of poems and essays about Friendship. In discussing some of the pieces included with the associate editor, she and I naturally started reminiscing about childhood friends. This is always a melancholy subject for me.
Until sixth grade, I don’t really remember having any friends. I mean, I would play basketball, football, soccer, softball, or any other seasonal sport with Greel, the boy my age who lived across the street, but I can’t say he and I were ever “friends.” I never really knew how to make friends . . . until in sixth grade, I met Jill, a girl with an imagination as vivid as my own. We liked the same TV shows and movies (her dad camped out the night before to be third in line for us to see Return of the Jedi on opening night at the one theater in our small city that was showing it). We understood how swings on the playground could become Pegasus, the flying horse. We made up characters to become.
I spent that summer, as I did every summer at my grandparents’ home—over one thousand miles away. We might have exchanged a couple of letters, but I don’t really remember. When I returned home, my parents had transferred me to a small, private school since I had not performed well academically in the public school. We also moved all the way across town. Jill and I lost touch and never saw each other again.
I’ve “lost” many other friends over the years—either due to the shallowness of the relationship or the time, distance, or circumstances that have separated us. When I think of these friends, while I can clearly picture times spent together, what I most remember are their qualities—the essence of why I was friends with them in the first place.
Amy, my best friend in college, was compassionate and caring, tenderhearted and emotional (to my untouchableness and repressed emotions). Todd was passionate—about football and about Jesus (his catch-phrase was “God Rules”) . . . and had a questionable sense of fashion (red polo shirt with aqua shorts coming immediately to mind, early 1990s not withstanding). Brad was a gentle giant, a seeker, soft-spoken yet with a sharp sense of humor I adored. Kevin was, for about ten years, a soul mate. He understood me in ways no one else ever has—or possibly ever will. Yvonne was a leader, a mentor, who pushed me out of my comfort zone.
These are just a few of the many people who have influenced my life. I haven’t seen any of them in years, and may never see them again. But I carry a little bit of each one of them around with me.
And this eventually works its way into my writing. In a way, the characters I write become tributes to those people who have shared my walk—whether for a brief season or for years and years. The qualities I saw in others that I didn’t possess before became part of me because of that friendship; and through me, these essences live on in my characters.
When our friends are gathered near us, it brings us a sense of fulfillment—like all of the pieces of a puzzle fitting together. When we write well-rounded, three-dimensional characters, we feel this same fulfillment.
So, as I look back at friends past and recall that essence, that lasting impression, I must ask myself: what is the essence, the lasting impression of my characters I want my readers to take away with them when they finish reading my story.
I want them to see Major’s gentle heart, love for others, and passion for cooking; Meredith’s innate need to feel loved and intense desire to be more than just someone defined by her social anxiety disorder—while acting as counselor for everyone around her.
Pretend for a moment your character is real and you want to introduce him or her to another friend, and were trying to describe his or her best qualities in one or two sentences, how would you do it?
Hello. My name is Kaye. I am an ISTJ.
Sounds a little on the concerning side, doesn’t it—like it’s a condition I need to learn to live with.
In a way, it is. You see, that’s my personality type based on the Jung/Myers-Briggs way of looking at personalities. (Find out your own here.)
I am an Introvert-Sensing-Thinking-Judging person:
Introvert: I have to get away from people to recharge. Being constantly around people drains my energy. And I have a hard time putting myself forward to meet new people.
Sensing: People who have a preference for sensing are immersed in the ongoing richness of sensory experience and thus seem more grounded in everyday physical reality. They tend to be concerned with what is actual, present, current, and real. As they exercise their preference for sensing, they approach situations with an eye to the facts. Thus, they often develop a good memory for detail, become accurate in working with data, and remember facts or aspects of events that did not even seem relevant at the time they occurred. Sensing types are often good at seeing the practical applications of ideas and things, and may learn best when they can first see the pragmatic side of what is being taught. For sensing types, experience speaks louder than words or theory.
Thinking: Thinking types seek to act based on the truth in a situation, a truth or principle that is independent of what they or others might want to believe or wish was true. The thinking function is concerned with logical consistency and analysis of cause and effect. As they use and develop their thinking function, thinking types often come to appear analytical, cool, and tough-minded.
Judging: They prefer a planned or orderly way of life, like to have things settled and organized, feel more comfortable when decisions are made, and like to bring life under control to the degree that it is possible. This only describes how their outer life looks. Inside they may feel flexible and open to new information (which they are).
I’m going to focus on this last one tonight.
Because of my personality type, when my free time is not structured, I tend to founder. Because of my natural tendency toward depression, this isn’t a good thing. Many people wonder how I was able to go to school part time (9 hours per semester) while not only working full time, but holding positions as either a volunteer or an elected officer with ACFW for five years—and writing four novels during that time. The truth of the matter is I thrived on having so much to do. I live alone, I don’t have much of a social life (most of my best friends live out of town or are married and have children who take up most of their time). So having more than enough to fill my time made me happy and productive. Even though I’m not a thrill seeker, that constant panic of having a looming deadline—a test, a paper due, a meeting by which something had to be accomplished—filled me with adrenaline and kept me going. Sure, I needed a break every now and again, but who doesn’t?
Since finishing my Master’s degree last June, I’ve had WAY too much time on my hands. I would at times find myself wandering around my house wishing for something to do—something other than coming into the office, sitting down at the computer, and writing. So I wasn’t getting much writing accomplished. I would set writing goals for myself, but it was so easy to blow it off and just sit in front of the TV all evening. After all, my job as a copy editor is so draining and I have to concentrate so hard all day at work. But, then after sitting in front of the TV until 10:30 or 11:00 at night, I would come in and sit down at the computer and feel guilty for not having accomplished anything, so I would end up staying up until 1:00 a.m. or later writing or reading.
When I finally forced myself to start writing every day so that I could finish Ransome’s Honor after a year and a half of working on it, I realized that it really is less draining to come home and immerse myself in the world of my story in the evening than it is to sit in front of the idiot box for those three or four hours.
Since I am much happier with structure, I’ve put myself on a schedule. I laid it out in an Excel spreadsheet in 15 minute increments throughout the day (from 7:00 a.m. to midnight . . . yes, this is the left-brain kicking in). At the beginning of the week, I look at what I know I must get accomplished outside of writing (critiques for others, meetings at church, movies or dinner with friends, etc.). I also think about what leisure activities (TV shows and reading) I want to do. And I came up with something like this, my schedule for tonight:
5:15—arrive home. Pick up and sort mail, change clothes.
5:30 – 5:45 p.m. – Walking (up and down the alley that runs behind my house).
5:45 – 6:15 p.m. – Checking e-mail; write and post blog entry (oops, I’m a little behind).
6:15 – 7:00 p.m. – typing in handwritten pages of A Major Event Inc. that I wrote at lunch (won’t take 45 minutes, so I can actually continue writing).
7:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Dinner. Can watch an hour-long TV show (usually something either recorded another night or On Demand through digital cable) or something on DVD. I have an alarm clock in my office set to go off at 8:00, at which time I turn off whatever I’m watching, even if it is in the middle of the most climactic scene.
8:00 – 10:00 p.m. – Critiquing. When I don’t have chapters to critique, this is time set aside for writing.
10:00 – 11:00 p.m. – Writing.
11:00 – 11:15 p.m. – Setting up coffee pot for in the morning and getting ready for bed.
11:15 p.m. – Lights out!
By following this schedule for the last couple of weeks, I have managed to average writing 1,000 words per day. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but when I can say that in fifteen days, I’ve written four chapters or 15,000 words on A Major Event Inc., it really adds up.
How would your writing be impacted if you put it on a schedule? Do you have a schedule you live by? Or are you a list maker and you just follow your list until everything is accomplished? Or do you wish you could set a schedule? Have you ever tried?
Finding My Voice–Linda Windsor, Bryan Davis, and Robert Elmer
Please make welcome Linda Windsor, Bryan Davis, and Robert Elmer.
Linda Windsor has written quite a collection of historical and contemporary romances as both Linda Windsor and Linda Covington. Windsor’s historical novels are known for her distinctive voice and flair for incorporating history with romance and adventure, while her contemporary romantic comedies are guaranteed to warm the heart, lift the spirit, and tickle the funny bone. One reader commented, “Be sure to keep tissues handy. I laughed so hard I had to keep wiping off my glasses.” Windsor insists that nothing is more entertaining than life itself, be it past or present. Linda’s newest writing venture is The Piper Cove Chronicles with Avon Publishing’s new Avon Inspire romance line. Wedding Bell Blues releases in July 2007.
Bryan Davis is the author of the four-book Dragons in Our Midst series, a contemporary/fantasy blend for young people. The first book, Raising Dragons, was released in July of 2004. The second book, The Candlestone, followed in October. Circles of Seven debuted in April of 2005, followed in November by Tears of a Dragon. Bryan is the author of several other works including The Image of a Father (AMG) and Spit and Polish for Husbands (AMG), and four books in the Arch Books series: The Story of Jesus’ Baptism and Temptation, The Day Jesus Died, The Story of the Empty Tomb (over 100,000 sold), and Jacob’s Dream. Bryan lives in Winter Park, Florida with his wife, Susie, and their children. Please visit Bryan’s website for more information on his books: http://www.dragonsinourmidst.com/
When Robert Elmer was in grade school, he created a family newspaper and wrote essays for fun. In high school, Robert took every writing class available. His parents, both from Denmark, passed along a love of language and books. Writing naturally came from that kind of environment. Right out of college, Robert did some freelance writing, some public relations/admissions work for Simpson College, and served as an assistant pastor at a church in Olympia, WA. He worked as a reporter and an editor in the community newspaper business for four years before going back to school in California to pursue a teaching career. After not landing a teaching job in Washington, Robert became a copy writer for an advertising agency. He now works full time writing and speaking. He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife, Ronda. Robert also serves on the editorial board of the Jerry Jenkins Christian Writers Guild and as a mentor for young writers. His most recent release is The Recital, from WaterBrook Press.
WPWT: How did you find your unique writing voice? Did you struggle to find it or did it come easily to you?
LW: I read and read and read historicals, which were my first published works. don’t recall ‘finding’ my voice. It just happened. I think it was a base of the voices or prose of authors I loved, hewn by my own. The same thing applied to my contemporary voice, which is totally different. I read favorite authors, watched contemporary TV shows to keep my dialogue current, and, I suppose, when I put them together with my inspiration, the result was my voice. I never really obsessed with a voice per se. I simply wrote the story in the best way I knew how.
BD: I don’t think I “found” my writing voice through either searching for it or even stumbling across it and saying, “Oh, here’s my voice!” I just started writing the way I talk and then massaged it to comply with style points I learned over the years. When you read my stories, you’ll hear me speaking, especially in the narrative. Most of my characters will also have hints of my speaking style, though one or two depart from it, and that I do intentionally.
RE: I think it’s a hard thing for a writer to accurately identify their own “voice,” easier to identify someone else’s. Ever heard yourself in a recording and think “That’s not me, is it?” Same way with writing. Other people recognize it more easily than we do ourselves. That said, I think I have a slightly different take on “voice,” because I’ve spent years imitating other people’s voices as an advertising copywriter. In advertising, my job was to discover the best of what other people had to say (usually about their products or services) and then present it to the public in the way they would have said it, only better. I think that’s a good exercise; in fact, I have all my young writing students in the Jerry Jenkins Christian Writers Guild do the same thing. I have never worried much about finding my own voice, since I’ve always believed writers should be able to write with many different voices, depending on the occasion and the audience. That doesn’t mean we compromise the integrity of our message, only that we learn to offer that message with different packaging.
WPWT: How would you describe your unique writing voice? What is it that you do to make sure your writing “sounds like” you?
LW: I would say that my own quirky personality and sense of humor/mischief invades my characters, especially my heroines, and hence, my voice. Add my imagination to the above and heaven only knows what will happen. On the more serious side, my personal experiences with life, chemical depression, parenting, Mars vs Venus, and faith come into play.
BD: 1. I like solid sentence structure. Just about every sentence will be grammatically perfect–subject, verb, preposition, etc, will be in its proper place. You’ll find very few sentence fragments outside of dialogue.
2. I use a lot of transition phrases in dialogue: “In any case,” “What I mean is,” “As it stands,” in order to allow the reader to feel the flow.
3. I vary sentence lengths. Some are quite long, while others will be short and punchy. If it’s an action sequence, there will be more short sentences.
4. I like to alliterate. I would have a lot more alliterations if I thought my reader could stand it.
5. While I describe scenery in fair detail, I don’t describe my characters’ physical traits beyond the essentials–hair color, height, frame. I leave a lot to the readers’ imagination.
6. I like action verbs. I use “was” and “were” sparingly.
7. Going against much current advice, I don’t mind using adverbs where appropriate. As you see in #6 above, they can be useful, and they often communicate well.
8. Even though I write for the YA audience, my action scenes are not as frequent or frenzied as some might expect for our Xbox generation. I relish the rest and restoration periods where I can get into my characters’ heads. I enjoy emoting with them as they laugh or cry.
9. I frequently use present participles. They are dangerous, but someone has to use them.
I can’t think of anything else. Maybe you could tell me characteristics of my voice so I can tell others in the future.
RE: Whoops. I think I dipped into this next question in my answer to the last one. But I suppose that if left to my own devices, my writing voice comes out slightly more conversational. I try to make it flow easily from one paragraph to the next, to sound like a good friend relating a heartfelt story. Although I don’t usually write in first person, I do try to make the narrative language sound as if it originates with the third person viewpoint character, or at least hint at the connection. If it sounds like them — whether it’s a 60-year-old New York piano teacher or a 12-year-old Danish boy, then it sounds like me. The voice comes through when the reader connects with their heart, and that’s what I’m after.
WPWT: What advice would you give to beginning/intermediate writers to help them find and develop their unique writing voice?
LW: Read voraciously in all types of genres, watch good TV shows for the writing and dialogue, take notes on what you like or admire–memory triggers, not a word for word to copy–and let your personality and imagination do the rest. It’s part magic, part miracle. I had a friend question me when I told him God wrote the greatest scene yesterday in a current project. He asked, “How do you know it was God and not you?” To which I replied, “Because He’s a better writer than me.” Nuff said.
BD: As I wrote above, just write as you would speak. Record a casual conversation, then go back and type it out as you listen to it. Take note of pauses. That’s where you would put in dialogue beats. Listen for how you naturally add transitions to change from one topic to the next, or how you lack transitions. Do you frequently go for a one-line punch, like a quick analogy, to describe something, or do you add colorful, detailed scenery? Of course, you can’t expect to publish true, raw conversation. Even though it’s truly as real as it gets, when you read it, it’s pretty tough to follow. You have to massage it. Still, it will help you find that voice you’re searching for.
RE: Build up your bag of tricks by listening to speech patterns of different characters, and then imitating them. Write down the expressions people use. Listen to waitresses or other locals when you travel, and try to pick up on regional differences — such as they are, any more. Pay attention to what makes people laugh and cry, what makes them worry or what angers them. Know your audience. Then, as your story allows, build in those unique linguistic and emotional spices in your own writing. In the end, though, don’t worry about finding or developing a unique voice. Don’t try to copy someone else’s written voice; that will usually backfire. But any time you focus on the heart, on the deepest emotions of your characters, the voice will emerge. When you stay true to the story and to those characters, the voice will find you. I don’t mean that to sound mystical, only that voice is a byproduct of stories well done.
Finding My Voice–Camy Tang, Gail Martin, and Shelley Bates
Please make welcome Camy Tang, Gail Martin, and Shelley Bates.
Camy Tang grew up in Wahiawa, Hawai’i, a small town right in the center of the island of O’ahu. She’s loved to write ever since Junior High, and after putting it aside for several years, picked up her pen once again in 2003. She is now active in American Christian Fiction Writers and the Faith, Hope and Love chapter of RWA. “My writing has been heavily influenced by my interests: reading and action/adventure movies and shows. I am addicted to the TV show 24, and will watch anything with Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat and Jackie Chan.” Outside of writing, Camy and her husband and are staff workers with the youth group at Santa Clara Valley Japanese Christian Church. Camy is a contributing editor for Rubyzine, an online Christian magazine for teenage girls. Camy’s first book, Sushi for One? (Zondervan) hits bookstore shelves in September 2007.
Gail Martin’s first inspirational romance was published by HeartSong Presents/Barbour Publishing Inc. Seasons was released in November 1998 with another published in May the following year. In 1999, she sold her first novel to Steeple Hill for Love Inspired, and her career was on a roll. Gail has now sold numerous category romances—both romance and romantic suspense. In 2002, she sold my first single title to Steeple Hill’s Women’s Fiction line, and has recently sold a third to them. Gail is also a columnist for the ezine Spirit-Led Writer and has written over twenty programs and skits for adults and children to be used in churches or Christian schools. Before writing, Gail taught English and public speaking at a local high school and later became a guidance counselor. She retired in 1995 and worked as a part-time English/public speaking instructor at Davenport University. Gail’s latest title, The Christian Romance will be released from Writer’s Digest Books in December 2007.
Whether typing search warrants and making undercover phone calls as an admin for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or editing marketing material for the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley, Shelley Bates has found that everyone has a story. Most people have stopped telling her theirs in case she puts them in her books. Shelley has a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of California at Santa Cruz and an M.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania. She sold her master’s thesis to Harlequin after she graduated in 2002, and it subsequently became a double finalist in the 2004 National Readers Choice Awards.
Grounds to Believe, her debut novel from Steeple Hill Books and the first book in her Elect Trilogy, won the 2005 RITA Award for Best Inspirational Novel of the Year from the Romance Writers of America. The second book in the trilogy, Pocketful of Pearls, released in 2005, and the last book, A Sounding Brass, released summer 2006. Her latest release is Over Her Head (May 2007). She is contracted for six books for the Christian teen market over 2007 and 2008. Between books, Shelley enjoys playing the piano and Celtic harp, making historical costumes, and spoiling her chickens rotten.
WPWT: How did you find your unique writing voice? Did you struggle to find it or did it come easily to you?
CT: Both, actually. When I first started writing, my voice was very muted because I didn’t understand what a writer’s voice was. Then I started to realize that each writer needs to let her natural “voice” come out in order to distinguish herself from every other writer out there. If you pick up an Amy Tan book, you can tell the writer’s voice is very different from Helen Fielding’s (Bridget Jones). You’d never mistake one for the other. I wanted my voice to be distinctive like that. Once I figured that out, I let go of all inhibitions and wrote exactly how I wanted to write, regardless of rules, etc. I fixed things up in revisions, but my voice was there on the page, uninhibited and uncensored. Now, I make sure I always write with my voice, whether in fiction, or articles, or my blog (practice makes perfect, after all). I firmly believe it’s a very important part of being a good writer–to have a unique voice that will appeal to an editor, and your readers.
GM: When I first began to write, I didn’t know there was such a thing as a writer’s voice. I just wrote the way the words fell on the paper, the way they made sense to me. Since then I’ve learned that a writers voice is not something that can be taught. It’s something that happens in time as writers find their own way to express a story, using a writing style and tone that fits into their own personality and sense of story, and that works well with the characters they have created. This might sound like mumbo-jumbo, but that’s what voice is to me.
SB: I wrote a lot of pages … a couple of thousand of them … before I sold my first book. There comes a point at which a writer stops being derivative of all the other authors she’s read, and is so comfortable with craft and structure that the words going onto the page are her own. For me, I stopped hearing the voices of my favorite authors and just put myself on the page. Which is a bit of a risk, but one you must take.
WPWT: How would you describe your unique writing voice? What is it that you do to make sure your writing “sounds like” you?
CT: My voice is a bit breezy, rather irreverent, and I try to always keep it honest and open. In the course of writing all my manuscripts that DIDN’T sell, I figured out what my voice “sounds” like. It really was a matter of just trial and error, and lots of practice. Writing with my voice is a very conscious effort. It doesn’t just come out whenever I write. I have to make sure I keep it in mind when I’m writing, or else it’ll be muted. I think a lot of writers assume it just “flows” out, but that’s not the case with me. I have to deliberately write in my voice. It’s something I work to do for every chapter I write. It’s not difficult or a struggle, but it’s definitely something I have to constantly keep in my mind.
GM: I only know my writing voice as it is defined by readers. My voice is so much a part of me that I can’t separate it from myself to see it in my work. Readers say my writing flows, it captures the essence of the characters and the emotion is grabbing. So I see my voice as an emotional flow of words that shows the story of believable characters and makes them come to life. It has a rhythm and beat that makes it my own. I don’t work at my writing voice. It is natural, but it stems from aspects about me. I am a poet. When I write, my ear listens for the rhythm of a line, the sounds of the vowels and consonants as they play against each other on the paper. I change words to make the line more alliterative, I add words to bring out the onomatopoetic sounds of the language, and I change line shaping so that it grabs the rhythm or music of the words that I feel should be there to fit the narration. My voice in dialogue is hopefully the character’s voice. I try to use vocabulary that’s true to the character. I like white space, so I write short paragraphs and dialogue that’s not always complete sentences, but this is just writing dialogue that sounds real.
SB: This is as difficult as hearing yourself on your answering machine. I always go, “Is that really me?” because what you hear in your head isn’t the same. Voice is a little like that. When you listen to Jenny Crusie or Barbara Samuel give a talk, they speak with the same voice that’s on their pages, only on the page it’s distilled into this wonderful liqueur with its own unique flavor. Barbara has a really useful worksheet on how to discover your voice at http://www.barbarasamuel.com/columns-17.html. We may as well learn from the masters!
WPWT: Shelley, how do you remain true to your writing voice when you write in different genres? Was it hard to transition from Women’s Fiction to YA?
SB: It wasn’t hard to transition, but I think the voices are a little different because the audience expectations are different. At the same time, I need to stay uniquely myself. My women’s fiction is more leisurely and I take more time to delve into the characters. In the YA, by virtue of the reading audience, the pace is fast and I develop characters through dialogue and experience rather than through internal monologue. But an author’s way of thinking and perceiving the world still comes through, no matter what genre she’s writing in. You can recognize the values of Suzanne Brockmann, for instance, whether she writes SEAL adventures or Regency spies (not that she’s ever written a Regency spy, but I bet she’d be really good at it).
WPWT: What advice would you give to beginning/intermediate writers to help them find and develop their unique writing voice?
One really good book is Finding Your Writer’s Voice by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall. Not all the exercises resonated with me, but the majority of them are great for helping a writer to discover their writing voice. It’ll also help a writer develop their voice and bring it out with much less writing than I did to develop my voice (I mean, it took me 3 or 4 entire manuscripts!), because the exercises are so targeted. And like I said before, practice makes perfect. Strive to develop your voice with everything you write.
GM: I would recommend two things. First the writer should write. They can work on fiction, but they can also write thoughts—express emotion about things going on in their life–almost like a journal, write about their dreams, their perceptions, their worries. Look at a beautiful calendar photograph that is a natural setting. Put a character in the scene. Have the character walk through the meadow or into the barn or loll on the bank of the river. Have a character kick the autumn leaves piled beside the old shed and ponder thoughts. After the writer does this for a period of time, read what each has written. Notice the techniques they use. Listen to the sound of the language, the word choices, the shaping of the lines. This will help the reader to get a feel of their voice–the tone, the mood, the attitude, the sound of the lines and words. Second, listen to what readers say about their work. If the writer is unpublished, ask critique partners what they pick up that makes their work different from someone else’s. A writer should never try to copy another writer’s style. The style must be your own, a part of you that’s so real, you can’t see the style yourself. Then you know it’s yours. Once you know what others say, work to hone that part of your writing. Going overboard doesn’t work. Let your voice be as unique as you are.
SB: Learn your craft (pacing, story structure, character
arc) so well that you don’t have to think about it when you write. Let those things process in the back of your brain so that the words can bubble freely on the front burners. And when you’re describing something, don’t settle for the first cliché that comes to mind. Use something out of your own experience or history. I remember reading a description of a woman’s face where, instead of saying she was “white as a sheet,” the author said “her eyes looked like two holes burned in a blanket.” Now, that not only gives a great description and develops that character, it’s a very earthy and concrete image that you could see coming from someone’s experience or family roots. That’s what helps to build your voice
Finding My Voice–MaryLu Tyndall and Kristy Dykes
Please make welcome MaryLu Tyndall and Kristy Dykes.
MaryLu Tundall spent her early years in South Florida. After graduating from San Jose State, she worked for a software company, got married, started a family, and began pursuing a career in writing. MaryLu now writes full time and lives in California with her husband and six children. She is breaking ground in the category of Pirate Romances with her first two novels, The Redemption and The Reliance.
A former newspaper columnist, Kristy Dykes is an award-winning author of 10 Christian fiction titles as well as over 600 articles in many publications including two New York Times subsidiaries. Her titles have been on the Christian bestsellers list and the Top 20 List at christianbook.com. She’s won many awards including Third Place in the 2006 Book of the Year Contest, presented by American Christian Fiction Writers, for “Reunited” in Wedded Bliss?, a Barbour 4-in-1. Kristy was voted to the 2004 Favorite New Authors List for HeartSong Presents. She writes a column for the ezine of the inspirational chapter of Romance Writers of America. She’s taught at many conferences and two colleges and enjoys speaking for women’s and writers’ events. Kristy lives in Florida, with her hero husband, Milton, a pastor. She’d love to hear from you: kristydykes@aol.com. Read her blog: http://christianlovestories.blogspot.com
WPWT: How did you find your unique writing voice? Did you struggle to find it or did it come easily to you?
MT: It came very easy to me. By definition, if you have a unique writing voice (which everyone does) you should already possess it and not need to work at acquring it. If you are struggling to find it, I suggest that you stop struggling, let go of other people’s expectations and all rules and just write from your heart. That’s where you’ll find your voice.
KD: Voice is something that is developed, generally speaking. Through my mind are running multitudinous author interviews I’ve read and gleaned from, and for the most part, this is what they say: that voice “finally” comes… I think I’m in the developing stage. I have 10 titles with Barbour, both Heartsong Presents novels and novellas in 4-in-1 collections. They’re all romances, with one exception, which is contemporary women’s fiction—my novella, Reunited,” in Wedded Bliss?, which won Third Place in the 2006 Book of the Year Contest, novella category, presented by American Christian Fiction Writers. My unpublished works are women’s fiction, both contemporary and historical, with strong romantic elements. I call them Christian love stories, and that’s what I titled my blog: http://christianlovestories.blogspot.com Everybody loves a love story, as the old saying goes. I certainly do. My latest WIP has some suspense-type elements, which was surprising to me, but they create conflict, which is so vital to a story. As I’m writing this story, I’m so exhilarated. I keep thinking, ‘This is it!’ My daughter and I were talking the other day about the plot of this story, and she said, “Mom, God made you a writer so you can write this story!” That made me tear up. I think I’ve at last found my voice!
WPWT: How would you describe your unique writing voice? What is it that you do to make sure your writing “sounds like” you?
MT: I would describe my voice as a very engaging voice–one that thrusts the reader into the surroundings, feelings, and actions of the story. Again, I don’t feel I have to try and sound like me. I just write what’s on my heart and phrase things the way that seem best to be.
KD: Whew. I’m glad you asked this because I just re-read my answer, above, and thought, Oh, no, I was focusing on genre more than voice. But really, the two go hand in hand. Your question is interesting. I’m not sure I do anything. I think voice just flows out of an author. It’s a compilation of their life experiences, the people around them, the events they’ve attended, the books they’ve read and gleaned from, how they were raised, what part of the country they’re from/live in, what spiritual experiences they’ve had, and more. It’s the sum total of “you.” I’ve written hundreds of published articles. I stopped counting at 600. My mother-in-law was reading an article in a magazine recently, and she thought, ‘This sounds just like Kristy,’ and she quickly glanced at the byline, and sure enough, it was me. Voice is not only the sum total of “you,” it’s even how you cast sentences. In my fiction, I tend to write long sentences. But I balance that with short sentences. And run-on sentences. And creative paragraphing. And other stylistic treatments. As far as “my” voice, I seek to do several things. One, I want to do what Charles Dickens said: “Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.” Two, I want to “put a smile on your face, a tear in your eye, and a glow in your heart.”
WPWT: What advice would you give to beginning/intermediate writers to help them find and develop their unique writing voice?
MT: Stop fighting it. Stop looking for your voice. Turn off everyone’s advice and opinions. Ignore the rules of writing for awhile. Put on some of your favorite music. Pray for the Lord to reveal to you the unique voice He’s given you, and then write from your heart!
KD: 1) Keep writing. Look for writing opportunities. Articles. Short fiction. Long fiction. Be thankful for writing opportunities. I’m so grateful to Barbour for letting me write for them. As a way of thanks and also because she is so deserving, I nominated, via a letter of praise, Rebecca Germany of Barbour for Fiction Editor of the Year, and she won! This was awarded by Advanced Writers and Speakers Association in 2004. 2) Keep studying the craft of fiction. Maybe it’s because I’m of the studious nature, but I constantly study technique, craft, writing by gifted authors, etc. 3) Read in your genre and out of your genre. Be well rounded in your reading. Novels of all types. Biographies. Self-help. History. And more.
KayeDacus.com 
