James Scott Bell - VOICE: The Secret Power of Great Writing

Voice

The Secret Power of Great Writing

James Scott Bell

What is Voice Anyway?

In 1964 the United States Supreme Court decided a case called Jacobellis v. Ohio. It was a First Amendment dispute. The state of Ohio had banned the showing of a French movie. French movies in those days were almost guaranteed to disturb the sensibilities of farmers and small town merchants, and the state was empowered to ban what it considered obscene.

This was the question the Court faced: Was this French film, with its unapologetic visual homage to the unclothed feminine form, so explicit as to render it obscene? If it was not, then Ohio would be prohibited by the First Amendment from banning it.

The Court ultimately held that Ohio had overstepped its bounds, but when it came to the definition of obscenity, the justices found themselves all over the place. It was the concurring opinion of Justice Potter Stewart that rendered a now famous quote. He said he could not define obscenity, but I know it when I see it.

Which is exactly how most publishing professionals feel about voice in fiction. It defies definition, but we all know it when we see it.

In this book, I want to help you see voice. I want you to see it in the writing of others, but more importantly I want to help you find it and let it run free in your own writing.

Because voice is the secret power of great writing.

It can take a pretty good novel and make it unforgettable.

It can take a pretty good author and up their game like almost nothing else.

And you need that in your fiction these days, because there is plenty of good writing out there. The competency level of writers is higher than ever. Over the last couple of decades weve seen an explosion of books, articles, blogs, critique groups, conferences, and other resources covering the art of fiction. The diligent students of the craft are guaranteed to improve.

But if you want to stand out, grow an audience, and have readers seeking your new work, then make it your aim to transcend the competent.

Marian Lizzi, who at the time of this writing is editor-in-chief of Perigee Books (an imprint of Penguin Group USA) once wrote about reasons a submitted book gets turned down by a publishing company. Among them was the following:

Not remarkable/surprising/ unputdownable enough. This one is the most difficult to articulate and yet in many ways its the most important hurdle to clear. Does the proposal get people excited? Will sales reps and buyers be eager to read it and then eager to talk it up themselves?

As my first boss used to warn us green editorial assistants two decades ago, the type of submission thats the toughest to spot and the most essential to avoid -- is the one that is skillful, competent, literate, and ultimately forgettable.

Thats the reason voice is crucial. It takes you from skillful, competent, literate, and forgettable to the kind of book we all love to findunputdownable.

Still, industry pros have difficulty figuring out what voice is, even as they say they want more of it. Every time there's a panel of agents or editors at a conference, when they are asked what they're looking for in a manuscript, someone always says, A fresh voice.

But no one can agree what that is.

Over the years I've heard some attempts at explanation, and I've jotted them down:

A combination of character, setting, page turning.

A distinctive style, like a Sergio Leone film.

Its who you are.

Personality on the page.

Its something written from your deepest truth.

Your expression as an artist.

Youll often hear these same people say they turned down a book because the voice was weak.

So heck, how do you find your voice when the very definition is so vague? Is it something that can be developed? Or is it something you're just born with?

What if you write in different genres? Is your voice in a noir thriller going to be the same as your voice in a romance?

This book is an attempt to answer those questions, but even more to give you practical tools and techniques for coaxing voice out of your writers mind and spirit.

In one of my favorite movies of all time, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Humphrey Bogart plays a down and out American in Mexico. He partners up with another transient to go find gold in the mountains. An old prospector (played by Walter Huston in an Oscar-winning role) comes along to provide the experience.

At one point they get to a stream and the prospector shows the other two men how to pan for gold. Some sand and some water, and then a little bit of swishing. He warns them not to be too strong with it. Gold ain't like stones in a river bank, he says. It don't call out to be picked up. You got to know how to recognize it. And the finding ain't all. Not by a long shot. You got to know how to tickle it so it comes out laughing.

Lets start tickling.

The CAP Method for Dynamic Voice

In this chapter Im going to reveal where true voice in fiction comes from. Its a place almost everyone misses. Thats because in virtually all discussions about this mysterious thing called voice it is assumed that it is the authors voice were talking about.

She has such a memorable voice.

He has a voice you wont soon forget!

And then the new writer strikes out to see if he has some kind of voice as he writes his story. And, not finding it, gets frustrated.

The frustration comes because voice does not come from the author.

Yes, I said that.

This thing called voice does not (except on rare occasions that I discuss in the next chapter) proceed from the author alone.

Every author needs help.

From whom?

From the character.

The real secret, the main thing I want you to take away from this book, is this:

CHARACTER background and language filtered through the AUTHORS heart, and rendered with craft on the PAGE = VOICE

This is the crucial dynamic, the big reveal, and it will keep you from being frustrated in the quest to find your voice.

I call this the CAP Method.

C is for Character.

A is for Author.

P is for Page.

The first two aspects, character and author, are symbiotic. That is, they exist in union and grow together. After that stage of growth comes the final destination on the page, rendered through the craft of the writer. The process looks like this:

Lets take a look at each step.

Character

When we read a novel that has a memorable voice, we are not reading an authors memoir. Even if the novel is autobiographical, it is a novel because it is about characters. Usually, one character dominatesthe Protagonist (or my preferred term, Lead).

To create a memorable voice you must first create a memorable character.

Of course, you may have different chapters or scenes where another character takes the Point of View. In that case, follow the CAP Method for each.

There are many approaches to creating characters, and innumerable craft books and blogs on the topic. Some writers like to write long character biographies, or fill out a dossier of questions covering all aspects of a characters background.

Other writers like to grab a quick idea and let the character grow as they write.

For our purposes, let me offer you a simple way to get the voice of the character into your own head. This, to me, is by far the most important part of the character creation process.

What you need are the answers to five key questions, then a visual, and finally a voice journal.