So I was browsing some blogs over December, and stumbled across something called "The Insecure Writer's Support Group."
I cannot express how much I love this idea.
Every first Wednesday of the month, writers across the globe blog about their insecurities. It's the opportunity to announce your insecurity, and hopefully, get rid of it as you realize other writers have the same ones (or used to).
So this is my first time joining up in Insecure Writer's Day, and it's sadly too easy to come up with a big insecurity for me.
My insecurity is:
People don't like my plot.
My biggest hurdle in sharing my work is not in thinking that the writing isn't any good, or even in whether I've got a modicum of talent. No, it's a bigger issue than that.
Bad grammar can be forgiven, and poor sentence structure can be overlooked--if the plot is absolutely amazing.
The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, neither of those series have perfect grammar or perfect sentences. They probably could have been written better, to be honest. And really, The Hunger Games doesn't have a particularly new plot, nor does Harry Potter. So why are they so great?
I think the plot resonates with many readers on many levels. Classic tales of good versus evil, of children growing up and doing the best they can to overcome the odds. Stories where, despite the differences of the characters' lives and yours, you can connect with them.
So maybe it's not that my plot isn't any good, but maybe it's that the way I'm telling the story could be done better. Maybe the characters I've chosen aren't compelling enough. Maybe there aren't enough twists and turns in the plot. Maybe my desire to give an ambiguous/literary ending angers my reader so they never come back.
I could go on and on. Really, it's endless. All because of plot.
I could read a million books on plot, and I'd probably still struggle. Because really, the best way to learn plotting is to plot.
So I'll head off to my work-in-progress now and begin plotting once again. In the hopes that someone will want to devour this book until the final page.
Voice is something that I rarely think about when writing. And, to some extent, I think that is okay. For voice is not something that can be forced, but is something that is naturally developed over time. Of course, I speak of writing fiction, where a voice can be anything you want it to be.
When I say "voice", I mean the myriad of personality, tone and story which is conveyed through your writing. If non-fiction, you'd probably want something matter-of-fact, informational. Fiction, however, is full of opportunity to develop voice to its fullest extent. Voice is what makes a reader come back to the same author over and over again. Voice draws the reader in and helps make a connection between character, reader and author.
So how do you find your voice?
Voice can vary from one piece to the next. The voice of a character may overshadow the voice of the author in fiction. In some cases, it should (think of close first person narrative, Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games). In others, it may not (think third person omniscient, Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities). However, there is always a voice in piece of writing. If The Hunger Games were written in third person omniscient, it would have an entirely different voice, even if still written by Suzanne Collins. If A Tale of Two Cities were written in first person narrative from one (or many) of the character's perspectives, the novel would read quite differently. Not necessarily worse, not necessarily better. Just different. Point of view shifts can affect voice, and that's something to keep in mind for your novel.
To find my voice for a novel, I like to take the main character I'm working with and freewrite from that character's perspective. Ask the character a question and have them start to talk. Don't interrupt them, just write what they tell you. It sounds crazy, but you'll discover a lot of useful things about them and the direction your story can go. Their voice will bleed through, mingle with yours and you will discover a possible voice for that novel. This voice is at once yours and the character's.
And that's what you want--a voice that is specific to both you as an author, and the character you've created.
