What does it mean when agents and mentors want 'voice'?
Lyndsay Ely: A clear, distinct perception of who or what your character or world is via the prose. The opening of GOSSIP GIRL doesn’t read like the opening of THE HUNGER GAMES. Within a few paragraphs in both novels you know exactly what kind of characters you’re following, in what kind of world.
Jo Hathaway: Your writing voice is your own personal style and flavor, though that can be a bit vague to pinpoint. Often, voice is used to describe the unique tone given to individual characters in the story. For example, if you change perspective between multiple characters, you want to make sure they don’t sound the same. Make each “voice” authentic to their backstory, upbringing, social class etc. You can play with a lot when discovering a character’s voice!
Heidi Stallman: I’ve heard voice described many ways but the way that stuck with me is to think of a 1st person character’s POV. What does that character notice? How does she put words together to describe things? What is her unique perception of the world and how does she “speak” about it. Read the first few pages of a 1st person novel of your choice out loud – can you imagine that character sitting there telling you their story? Can you imagine how she’d tell you about a rock concert or basketball game or fishing at a lake. Her voice, her words, her way of seeing the world is unique and it has to come out on the page.
Let me add that I write MG, and with MG it’s all about the character’s voice. You, as an author, have to get out of the way with your adult way of thinking and talking and viewing the world. If you write for adults, then it become more of a dance between author’s voice and character’s voice.
Becky Dean: I’ve heard it used to describe both character and author. Your character should sound unique and authentic, but your books should also sound like you. If someone who knew you read your book, would they clearly be able to hear your voice speaking the words on the page. Or if someone read your books and then met you for the first time, would they recognize your voice from your writing. It’s a combination of word choice, syntax, tone, subject matter, world view, how you use dialogue and description. Telling your stories in a unique, identifiable way.
Jenny Ferguson: It’s how you sound different than other writers. It’s everything (characters’ thought pattern, sentence structure, cadence, style, word choice, etc.—and the narrator’s if 3rd person) coming together to form “voice”.
Lisa Schunemann: I think this is dead on.
Lisa Schunemann: I really still have no idea. It can be another totally subjective thing in the publishing/literary world, if you think about it. I know there are some author “voices” who I just don’t resonate with, even though others definitely do. Mentors talk about voice because they’re looking for someone with a strong ability to write words that come alive on pages, and show the author’s personality through their writing/characters.
Mike Mammay: For me it’s the picture of your characters I form in my head simply from how they express themselves.L
Laura Creedle: MG is about voice, but so is YA. Because YA can be more causal than literary, it’s really important to read your work out loud. If it feels awkward or stilted, or in you go down a rabbit hole of flowery descriptions of someone’s eyes, it will sound ridiculous out loud. I writer 1st and I take voice very literally.
Ashley Martin: For me, it’s all about character voice. When I read, I want to see and hear the character’s personality. Are they reserved or outgoing? Serious or witty? Confident or hesitant? How does that affect what they do, the choices they make, how they interact with others? It’s also about your character’s literal voice. A princess from a royal family in a European country is going to speak differently and choose different words and phrases than a small-town, southern tomboy. It’s about painting a picture in your reader’s mind beyond simply telling them what your MC looks like, what they’re wearing, and where they live.
Rebecca McLaughlin: Voice is hearing the story without it being told it’s a story. If a story has good voice, you hear the character, feel the world, and move through the plot without being distracted by the fact that it’s a story. Basically, you want to hear the story’s characters and not the author.
Ashley Martin: Yes! It’s all part of the ever-so-important showing, not telling.
Relly Annet-Baker: You know the person in your office/class/sports club who could take the most boring anecdote and some how make it sing? It’s because of the way they tell it—the language, the pace, the quirks that reflect *how they feel about what they are recounting*. That’s voice, whether author voice, or character narrator voice, and all the best books thrum with it.
Isabel Andrew Davis: It’s how you make each of your characters shine. It’s the worldview and perspective you give them. Think of a popular story—let’s take Harry Potter. Picture Hermione, Ron and Harry. Can you “hear” each character? They are distinct. They each shine because JK Rowling, through her writing, through her words, gave them each a distinct voice. The three never sound the same. That’s voice and it’s up to the writer to pick and choose how to construct each sentence to better serve each character.
