Be a Better Writer--FIND YOUR OWN VOICE
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 6:28 pm
I read two books not long ago that got me thinking about a previous lesson, this one on “telling, not showing.”
I won’t repeat the whole lesson; I hope you’ll give it a second look. In a nutshell, it’s this: “show, don’t tell” is a very good piece of writing advice, particularly for the beginning and intermediate writer. If “show, don’t tell” isn’t a concept that you’re familiar with, I definitely recommend that you study it and put it into practice. In fact, it’s also a good writing practice for advanced and even expert writers, and many, many gifted writers do far more showing than telling.
HOWEVER…
For some writers—particularly those who might be interested in writing contemporary, non-genre fiction—telling, not showing is one possible way to go. It’s not a style for everybody, but it’s something you might want to experiment with. When it’s done well, it can create a unique writer’s voice, and it can accomplish something very special in mood and atmosphere.
The two books I read were both by a writer named Kent Haruf. One is Plainsong, and the other is Our Souls at Night. I’ll say that these are secular fiction, not Christian, but there is very little objectionable content—perhaps they’d be rated PG-13 if they were movies.
Haruf has a spare, lovely, simple writing style, in which almost every sentence is telling; nevertheless, the reader gets a complete picture of his wonderful characters and the place and time they inhabit. Here’s a small excerpt from Plainsong:
***
Ike picked at something in his eggs and put it at the rim of his plate. He looked up again. But Dad, he said.
What.
Isn’t Mother coming down today either?
I don’t know, Guthrie said. I can’t say what she’ll do. But you shouldn’t worry. Try not to. It’ll be alright. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.
He looked at them closely. They had stopped eating altogether and were staring out the window toward the barn and corral where the two horses were.
You better go on, he said. By the time you get done with your papers you’ll be late for school.
He went upstairs once more. In the bedroom he removed a sweater from the chest of drawers and put it on and went down the hall and stopped in front of the closed door. He stood listening but there was no sound from inside.
***
You’ll notice, also, that Haruf doesn’t punctuate dialogue, and he uses very few commas. The overall mood of a whole book like this is both quiet and deep. I don’t really know how to explain it—you’d have to read for yourself—but this book (and the other one I read) felt as if I were viewing it both through a soft, soft filter—but strangely as if I were examining these characters’ lives very intimately. It was totally lovely.
I’m certainly not advocating that you should try to imitate Haruf’s style. What I am saying to you advanced and expert writers is that you might want to think of ways in which you can make your writer’s voice entirely your own. Haruf does it with unpunctuated speech, with simple sentences, and with telling, not showing (among other things). How can you make your voice unique?
HOMEWORK:
This is not really an assignment, but I'd love some back and forth about what I've said here. Some things to consider:
1. What writers have you read with such a distinctive voice that you'd recognize it after just a chapter or two? What does that writer do to create her own voice?
2. How would you react to reading a book with Haruf-like unpunctuated dialogue and pervasive "telling?"
3. Have you done any work on your own voice? What can you tell us about that process? What has been successful or not successful?
I'd love, love, love some ideas for future lessons.
I won’t repeat the whole lesson; I hope you’ll give it a second look. In a nutshell, it’s this: “show, don’t tell” is a very good piece of writing advice, particularly for the beginning and intermediate writer. If “show, don’t tell” isn’t a concept that you’re familiar with, I definitely recommend that you study it and put it into practice. In fact, it’s also a good writing practice for advanced and even expert writers, and many, many gifted writers do far more showing than telling.
HOWEVER…
For some writers—particularly those who might be interested in writing contemporary, non-genre fiction—telling, not showing is one possible way to go. It’s not a style for everybody, but it’s something you might want to experiment with. When it’s done well, it can create a unique writer’s voice, and it can accomplish something very special in mood and atmosphere.
The two books I read were both by a writer named Kent Haruf. One is Plainsong, and the other is Our Souls at Night. I’ll say that these are secular fiction, not Christian, but there is very little objectionable content—perhaps they’d be rated PG-13 if they were movies.
Haruf has a spare, lovely, simple writing style, in which almost every sentence is telling; nevertheless, the reader gets a complete picture of his wonderful characters and the place and time they inhabit. Here’s a small excerpt from Plainsong:
***
Ike picked at something in his eggs and put it at the rim of his plate. He looked up again. But Dad, he said.
What.
Isn’t Mother coming down today either?
I don’t know, Guthrie said. I can’t say what she’ll do. But you shouldn’t worry. Try not to. It’ll be alright. It doesn’t have anything to do with you.
He looked at them closely. They had stopped eating altogether and were staring out the window toward the barn and corral where the two horses were.
You better go on, he said. By the time you get done with your papers you’ll be late for school.
He went upstairs once more. In the bedroom he removed a sweater from the chest of drawers and put it on and went down the hall and stopped in front of the closed door. He stood listening but there was no sound from inside.
***
You’ll notice, also, that Haruf doesn’t punctuate dialogue, and he uses very few commas. The overall mood of a whole book like this is both quiet and deep. I don’t really know how to explain it—you’d have to read for yourself—but this book (and the other one I read) felt as if I were viewing it both through a soft, soft filter—but strangely as if I were examining these characters’ lives very intimately. It was totally lovely.
I’m certainly not advocating that you should try to imitate Haruf’s style. What I am saying to you advanced and expert writers is that you might want to think of ways in which you can make your writer’s voice entirely your own. Haruf does it with unpunctuated speech, with simple sentences, and with telling, not showing (among other things). How can you make your voice unique?
HOMEWORK:
This is not really an assignment, but I'd love some back and forth about what I've said here. Some things to consider:
1. What writers have you read with such a distinctive voice that you'd recognize it after just a chapter or two? What does that writer do to create her own voice?
2. How would you react to reading a book with Haruf-like unpunctuated dialogue and pervasive "telling?"
3. Have you done any work on your own voice? What can you tell us about that process? What has been successful or not successful?
I'd love, love, love some ideas for future lessons.