How do you balance your voice with a (very) particular line...or do you? Do you find yourself curbing your natural tendencies in the hopes of making an easy **ha! scoff!** sale?
This is the conundrum which has been tripping me up through edits and rewrites of my current WIP. I'm struggling to secure my "voice" amidst strict writing guidelines and am now up in the air about completing "Divine Deception" as it began. I have admitted that I don't do well with shorter pieces, but is there more to this than I originally thought?
Maybe it's not only the shorter word count tripping me up as much as it's the taming of my natural writing voice. I haven't perfected it yet, trust me, but trying to write for one specific line is making my mind vomit very formal - even boring in my mind. I'm not hoping to insert excessive cursing or anything like that, but I tend to think and first-draft write as I would talk to my sisters. We're a pretty vocal group and we tell it like it is, always with love and affection...yet I haven't stretched myself to try writing in this manner.
I think I'm going to have to set aside "DD" for now and focus on me: what I really want, the roller coaster a few new characters want to drag me on, and what I'm ultimately hoping to accomplish. Who knows, maybe I'll do something right.
Oh, and I've talked about them a lot, but here we are for your viewing pleasure: 1, 2, 3, and 4 - but not in that order. : )
Go with your instinct, experiment and see where your voice fits. After all this is what's writing is all about. Your writing comes to life when your voice fits the stories/line you want to write for, IMO.
ReplyDeleteLovely seeing the pic of you and your sisters, can imagine the four of you getting together and lighting up the room.
take care,
Ferdous
Hetal, you have to write to your voice. It's who you are and will define you as a writer. I think if you're forcing it, it will probably come out in your writing. You don't mention what the issue is with the guidelines exactly, but IMO you have to write the story the way you need to tell it. I also write 'casually'. It's just my style and you won't find a ton of formal description in anything I write. If it's a good story with great writing, there'll be a market for it. Deep down you probably know that, right?
ReplyDeleteFerdous, I'm smiling big here because my sisters and I do happen to light up a room...then set it on fire with our rather loud repartee. We can't go out in public without making a scene - true story. ;)
ReplyDeleteHey Kaily, the Har line I'm targeting is pretty strict about their requirement of "dark, dangerous, action packed, and sensual" and kind of frown on too much light banter...which is the tendency I'm trying to curb in order to fit their standards. Alas, I believe I will not be able to adhere and will have to shine my light elsewhere. :)