Don’t Over-spice Your Manuscript

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When writing, there’s an abundance of stylistic elements available at our disposal to add a little extra something to our writing. Telegraphic or run-on sentences, purposeful repetition, strikeouts, onomatopoeia, particular wording or structure, single-line paragraphs...the possibilities are pretty near endless. 

Occasionally, we writers will become particularly attached to a stylistic element or two, and it’ll become a sort of crutch that we use far more often than even we realize. My stylistic crutches tend to vary from manuscript to manuscript—for a previous WIP it was single-line paragraphs, and for my more recent WIP it’s run-on sentences (go figure). 

I once read that stylistic elements like the ones mentioned above should be used like spices. A little spice sprinkled across your pages will give it a particular zing, a fresh bite that that readers will recognize as part of your voice. It gives your work that little extra je ne sais quois that readers love. 

But just like a stew, something starts to happen if you throw in too much spice—the extra flavor becomes too much. It’s noticeable, but in a way that makes people frown and say there’s something not quite right. That delicious bite loses it’s effect and becomes lost in the sea of too many flavors, and before you know it, you can’t taste much of anything. 

The same thing can happen in your writing. 

The thing I try to remember while writing and editing is this: the more times you use a particular stylistic effect, the less punch it has. With every use, it becomes a little less effective, until, if overused, it has little to no effect at all. 

The key to incorporating stylistic elements into your writing is to use them with discretion. Every use should have a purpose. A sprinkle of telegraphic sentences here and a pinch of repetition there—just enough to give that zing without drowning your readers in spice. 

What stylistic elements do you like to incorporate into your writing? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Are you over-spicing your MS? One writer discusses what happens when you overuse stylistic elements. (Click to tweet) 

How are writing and cooking related? Writer @Ava_Jae discusses the dangers of over-spicing your MS. (Click to tweet) 

Voice: You Are Not Your Characters

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For much of my journey as a writer, I was aware of this thing called voice. I knew what it was, for the most part, and the theory behind how to develop it (that is, write and read a lot). I knew that an author's voice was different from a character's voice, but it wasn't until I started writing in first person that I came to realize that one can overpower the other.

In my case, my writer voice was way overpowering my character's voice (a problem, especially in first person) and this revelation forced me to stop and rethink how I view voice.

You see, your writer voice develops naturally over time—it's something that threads together with every word you write and every sentence you read. It evolves gradually, naturally into something that is you, into your mark on the page.

But the character voice — that's an entirely different battle, because your character's voice is not the same as your voice. Not even close.

I've been following John Green's "Only If You Finished The Fault in Our Stars" tumblr, and oftentimes people have asked him why he had Hazel or Augustus (the book's two main characters) say or think something. The most popular of these questions was why Hazel states at the beginning of the novel that V for Vendetta is a “boy movie,” and whether he believes V for Vendetta to be a "boy movie." I found part of his answer particularly interesting (and relevant, so bear with me):

"I am not a sixteen-year-old girl with stage IV cancer named Hazel Grace Lancaster, so I did not call V for Vendetta a boy movie. I was writing from her perspective, and it’s really important to note that it’s not necessarily my perspective. So I think HAZEL (at least beginning of the novel Hazel) would consider V for Vendetta a boy movie. I generally do not attach gender to films or other works of art, as it seems like a weird thing to do."

What he's hitting on here is golden advice for any writer: we are not our characters. I mean, we are in the sense that we create and develop them, but by no means are we them (because if we are, we have a new problem, namely, that you're writing a Mary Sue into your story, which is an entirely different post (and problem) on its own).

Your voice — that is, the voice of the writer — must be different from your characters' voices (unless you're writing an autobiography, in which case, carry on).

For me, that revelation meant having to rewrite my WIP while constantly asking myself if this is something my protagonist would think or say. I won't pretend it wasn't a lot of work, but I came out of it with an entirely new perspective on developing and writing characters.

How do you develop character voices? Have you ever found your writer voice was overpowering your character voice? How did you fix it?

Your Greatest Asset is You

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The blogosphere is overloaded with advice about how to write--whether it's blogging, writing a novel, poetry or screenplays, if you Google it, you'll find it. And advice is great--sometimes we need tips to help us get over certain obstacles, whether it's character development or voice or growing your blog.

But sometimes we get too caught up in the small stuff. Because yes, it's true that you need to work to improve your craft and yes, writing tips are absolutely useful when you're working to improve your writing, but guys, your greatest asset isn't in sentence structure or paragraph length or even your ability to drive traffic to your blog--it's you.

You are unique. No one sees the world the way you do. No one can think or dream or write the same way you do. And that's what makes you special. That's what makes you you. 

You're not always going to have original content, and that's ok. Truth be told, everything under the sun has been done in one way or another. But your worldview, your personality infused into your writing is what makes it memorable. 

Only you can match the perfect cadence of your words. Only you can write the way you do and that is what will draw readers to you. The other stuff is important, yes, but this one thing you must remember.  

You are your greatest asset--never forget it.

Unleashing Your Voice

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When I announced I’d be writing this post a week ago, I immediately knew it was going to be one of the hardest posts of the four-post series to write. But of course, I didn’t have to worry about it for a week, so I didn’t really think about it.

Until, you know, I had to actually sit down and write the thing.

I suppose what makes this post so challenging is that I don’t really have any secrets to share with you except this one: there is no secret. There isn’t a formula or a magic exercise or a yoga pose that’ll suddenly unlock your voice so that you can release it onto the page.

The truth is guys, you already have a voice.

I don’t care if you’re 13 or 57, if you’ve never written a novel or if you’ve written more than 20—you have a voice and the moment you put a pencil to paper or your fingers to the keyboard you’ve released it. You’ve pushed the first domino, taken the first step towards what will eventually be a prose that is uniquely you.

And that’s what makes writing—any writing—special. I could ask all of you to write a short story with the same characters, same plot, same settings and themes and dialogue and in the end, every single one of you would come out with something different. Why?

Because you each have a voice.

It bothers me when I read or hear advice about trying to find your voice. There isn’t a form of laryngitis in writing—you can’t lose your voice, so there’s nothing to find. If you’ve written anything at all, you have a voice. Period.

That’s not to say you can’t develop your voice. Your first WIP will sound nothing like your sixth and your sixth WIP won’t look anything like your twenty-fourth simply because your voice develops as you mature as a writer. The more you write, the better your writing will be—and the more consistent and confident your words, your voice will become.

So how do you unleash your voice? The answer is one word. Can you guess it?

Write.

That’s it. Go out there and write and your voice will come naturally. Remember that every word you put on the page is unique because you put it there.

You already have a voice. Go use it.

To celebrate the end of this voice series, there will be an exciting announcement on Wednesday. Expect lots of confetti and pretty artsy things. J

Defining Author Voice

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So now that we’ve thoroughly covered character voice and how to make them talk, it’s time we switch gears to the other aspect of voice that is key to novel-writing.

Remember the About.com definition? Just in case you need a refresher, here it is:

"Voice is the author's style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author's attitude, personality, and character."

It may only be one sentence, but that covers a lot of ground right there: writing that reflects the author’s attitude, personality and character. All three, just in the way sentences are strung together, words are chosen and paragraphs are formed. But how?

Let’s move away from writing for a moment and think about the way people speak. Even with body language and the tenor and volume of voice stripped out, if you overheard a conversation I’m willing to bet you’d probably still be able to pick out differences. Why? Because we all speak differently. Some of us prefer to use more unusual vocabulary while others rely on everyday slang. Some people speak eloquently and could go on for hours without pause, while still others prefer short, abrupt sentences.

Guess what? Author voice is the same way.                                                             

If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time, you can probably tell that I like brevity. I aim for short paragraphs and occasionally throw in one or two-word sentence fragments just because I can. Like this. I take a conversationalist tone because this is my blog and it flows naturally that way. If you looked at any of my WIPs, you’d probably see similar themes.

Especially the short paragraphs. I love short paragraphs.

Read someone else’s blog and you’d find different patterns, because they have a different voice—and it works the same way with books, too. J.K. Rowling’s novels read differently than, say, William Faulkner’s. Likewise, no one will ever mistake Shakespeare’s writing for anyone else and I’m sure you could pick out your favorite author’s voice in a heartbeat.

If you write even once in a while, you have a writer’s voice. It may not be developed to a point of consistency yet, but it’s there.

And we’ll talk about nurturing it on Monday.

Naturally your favorite author voices are likely going to be from your favorite authors, so let’s hear them! Who are your favorite authors? Mine are Ted Dekker, J.K. Rowling and Eoin Colfer. Share yours!