Sometimes they come to me in a dream. Sometimes I wonder what if? Sometimes I see something on TV, or at the movies, or online, or on the street. The voices in my head tell me. If you’re a writer, these are all perfectly acceptable answers to the BIG question: Where do you get your ideas?
Roz over at Nail Your Novel has a great post here about getting story ideas for free. Check it out and tell me: Where do you get your ideas?
Showing posts with label story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label story. Show all posts
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Coming to voice
Continuing my catch up with links I made note of before being swallowed by the Nine Muses Challenge, Roz Morris over at Nail Your Novel had a lovely discussion about Developing a Strong Writing Voice, what it is, how it developed for her, and how it is the make or break of telling a story. Rachelle Gardner also had a discussion about Craft, Story, and Voice that raises some really interesting questions about which of those is most difficult, and how they all come together to create a story.
My journey to voice did not come easily or quickly. I was well into graduate school before I really got even a glimmer of what voice was. And that wasn’t even in reference to writing or anything creative, it was in reference to change agents and being a transformative societal force. Of course I was in graduate school working on my MA in Education but still, I was so woefully unaware of not only my own voice but anyone else’s as well. And it wasn’t until I actually left academic writing to return after twenty years to creative writing that I began to worry about voice.
It’s elusive, difficult to quantify and qualify, and absolutely essential to good story telling. And even after all this time, I’m still not sure I have a handle on what it is or how to find it.
So here are my questions to you. What do you think makes good voice? What was your journey to it? Have you found it or are you still searching? And between craft, story and voice, which of those has given you the most difficulty?
My journey to voice did not come easily or quickly. I was well into graduate school before I really got even a glimmer of what voice was. And that wasn’t even in reference to writing or anything creative, it was in reference to change agents and being a transformative societal force. Of course I was in graduate school working on my MA in Education but still, I was so woefully unaware of not only my own voice but anyone else’s as well. And it wasn’t until I actually left academic writing to return after twenty years to creative writing that I began to worry about voice.
It’s elusive, difficult to quantify and qualify, and absolutely essential to good story telling. And even after all this time, I’m still not sure I have a handle on what it is or how to find it.
So here are my questions to you. What do you think makes good voice? What was your journey to it? Have you found it or are you still searching? And between craft, story and voice, which of those has given you the most difficulty?
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