Voice

The character voices I hear in my head come through loud and clear when I lay awake at night (I’m a poor sleeper); when I’m driving the school run (maybe I should be concentrating?), and when I’m watching the sunset with a glass of something nice.  But when I sit at my computer the journey from my brain to my fingertips seems to water down their strength.  Maybe the clue is in the word ‘brain’.  I’ve read two books now on Voice both extolling that good writing does not come from this part of our anatomy.   It comes from a mystical place deep within that you need to meditate to access.  I am trying, as Voice is something I need to work on. 

Results so far have been mixed.  I have used the dreamscape method: writing as soon as I awake when Voice is supposed to be at its clearest, untarnished by the day’s tribulations.  I wrote a girl’s voice, teenage Rachael, who juggled her time between being the school swat to fitting in with the coolest crowd.  I have to say it worked.  She came through loud and clear, her confidence obvious, tinged with every teenager’s worst nightmare: not fitting in.  I should have kept the momentum going.  But I allowed life to get in the way and allowed Mr. Procrastination to creep back in and I filled my morning with displacement activities.  Who doesn’t love unloading the dishwasher?

I then tried keeping a sensory journal, writing small excerpts everyday, closing my eyes, imaging the scene, the setting, the voice and allowing the words to flow.  I kept this going for quite some time managing ten or so pages.  But as I reread my daily entry twenty-four hours later, what I’d been blown away with the previous day now seemed overblown.  Damn you overwriting!

I have read a book called Outliers: the story of success which gives the background on how hugely successful people have got there.  One of its key messages is that to become good at anything you need to have put in your 10,000 hours.  This certainly rang true with the case studies the book highlighted and it felt right to me.  When it comes to writing I don’t think a smattering of talent is enough.  Outstanding prose comes from thought, practice and a shed-load of re-editing.

With regard to Voice, I think I will dip in and out of all the suggested exercises I’ve come across until I find one I can actually stick at.  In the meantime I’ll keep racking up the hours until I hit the magical 10,000.  Who knows, maybe by then I’ll actually write something that’s worth a second look.

Wendx