Who Am I? Finding Your Writers Voice

I remember listening to a tape recording many years ago. The speaker, Mike Warnke, was sharing of his experience as a new Christian and speaker. He determined to be the very best . . . and studied the top speakers in the field.

He imitated Billy Graham as he thundered out an evangelical message. 

He spoke with the authority and passion of Kathryn Kuhlmann, as he preached to the sick and invited them to come forward for healing. 

He urged people to step out in faith in the style of Oral Roberts. Yet he had little or no response.

One day, in frustration, he asked the Lord, "Why don't I get results when I preach?"

To this, he said, the Lord replied, "I don't know. Who are you?"

We can laugh, but isn't that what we do as writers? We long for the inspirational writing ability of Karen Kingsbury, the gift of story telling of Jerry Jenkins and the creativity of J.K.Rowling. We try to use the poetic prowess of Helen Steiner Rice, the tension-creating techniques of Brandilyn Collins and the light-hearted approach of Max Lucado (voted best Christian Writer of 2009*). 

And we wonder why we don't get results!

Each one of us have our own abilities and gifts. We have strengths unique to our own writing style, and we have weaknesses. When we compare ourselves to other writers, we have no hope. We can't be as good as them. Chances are we won't make the same mistakes as them either. We can't write like them. We're not them.

As you read, admire the writing style of the author, but don't try to copy it. Develop your own style. Find your own voice.

Here are some suggestions:

Study writing techniques. Learn all you can. Put what you learn into practice. Find out what works for you--and what doesn't. Then have the freedom to use the techniques in ways that suit what you're trying to say.

Write. And write. And write. The more you write, the more you will develop your own techniques and voice. Don't try to say it like some great author would. Say it like you. Free write. Put your pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard, and go flat out. Don't stop for a break. Just get those words out.

Edit and polish your work until it's the best you can do. Put it to one side while you work on something else. Then come back to it. Read it aloud. Does it flow? Does it sound natural? Is this the way people talk? Most importantly, is it how you talk?

Look for advice, critiques, and professional input. You will never get to a point where you don't make mistakes. You will never become a writer who doesn't need an editor. The greatest writers are those who recognise their need for critique and are open to suggestions. Gather a group of people who are prepared to offer that advice. Join an existing critique group, or form your own on-line support group.

Choose the best time for you. Figure out what are the best hours, the time you are most productive, and write during those hours. Do the mundane tasks of writing, and there are many, during the other times. 

Read in the genre you want to write. As you soak in books by experienced authors in your field, you will start to pick up techniques and tricks you enjoy--and learn what you don't. 

Write for an audience. And that audience is you. Write stories you want to read. Write articles that will help you. Describe scenes you enjoy reading about. Create characters that bring you pleasure.

Enjoy your writing. If it becomes a drudge, put it away. Do something else. Start another project. Go for a walk. Do some gardening. If you force your voice when you're singing, you'll lose it. And when you start to force your words, you'll lose your writer's voice. 

Finally: 
Aim to become the best writer you are capable of being.

And always remember: There are millions of writers in the world today. But there is only one you.

Over to you: Who are you? What is your real writing heart? Share an answer below and help us hear your very own heartbeat.

Further reading on the subject of voice:

The Difference Between Style and Voice

* http://www.ecpa.org/elink/2010/02/2009top50.php

SHIRLEY CORDER  lives a short walk from the seaside in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, with her husband Rob. She is author of Strength Renewed: Meditations for your Journey through Breast Cancer. Shirley is also contributing author to ten other books and has published hundreds of devotions and articles internationally. 

Visit Shirley on her website to inspire and encourage writers, or on Rise and Soar, her website for encouraging those on the cancer journey. 

Follow her on Twitter or "like" her Author's page on Facebook, and if you tell her who you are she may even follow you back.

Grammarly and #GrammoWriMo – Join In

Grammarly has a great idea. If you’re not aware of what grammarly.com is, it’s “an automated proofreader and your personal coach.” And, it corrects “up to 10 times more mistakes than popular word processors.”

But, as I mentioned, Grammarly has a great idea and it goes beyond proofreading. Grammarly is introducing a new take on NaNoWriMo with it’s own verson, #GrammoWriMo.

Here’s the gist of it, taken right from the Sign Up page:

If two heads are better than one, imagine what a whole community of writers can do! Let’s find out together. In November 2013, Grammarly will organize the largest group of authors ever to collaborate on a novel—we’re calling the project #GrammoWriMo.

How cool is that!

When Grammarly’s Nick Baron sent me an email asking if I’d help spread the word, I immediately jumped on board. I love the idea.

In NaNoWriMo each author writes his/her own novel. In #GammoWriMo a large group of authors will create one book. Imagine the collective juices flowing, the muses flying!

If you’d like to join in on this unique writing journey, the submissions cutoff date is October 25th.

To learn more and to sign up today, go to: http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2013/nanowrimo/

This is not an affiliate thing, it’s just a unique idea.


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P.S. To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi

A Slam Bam Finish

Some days I want to stay in my soft jammies and cuddle my cat just like the character in my picture book and not think about marketing, social media, or the business side of writing. But alas, like all of you I write, and I need to make money from that skill so thinking about marketing, social media and the business side of writing is a must. Sooooo, folks there are only 10 Saturdays till Christmas and that screams to me that there are only 10 ish weeks until the end of 2013. If I want to rally and make the most of the rest of the year for my writing I need to do a couple of important things, some of them may be slightly painful.

 I need to FOCUS. Now more than ever I need to stay focused on the tasks at hand. The end of the year is not time to dilly and dally but rather time to look long and hard at what I still need to do to meet my writing goals for 2013. I still have a few submissions floating around out there so one I need to check the calendar and see if it is time to send them out to the next publisher on my list, etc to get those current submissions into the hands of someone who may read them before the end of the year.

Once I have checked those floating masterpieces and updated my submissions list, next I need to list the most important tasks left undone. I have invoices that need to be sent, two query letters to fine tune, and at least one story that needs to be sent to my critique partners. Little tasks like these sometimes get put aside for another day and it is time to get it done. I also have to fine tune my target list of publishers and look again at my list of topic ideas to see if there are last minute article ideas I can send out.

Next, my weakness is promoting myself so this is the painful part for me. Promotion is the number one thing writers need to do to finish strong in 2013. I need to get my media package fine tuned for the hospitals and Childhood cancer centers, research centers, and key parents who want to help me promote my new book. I have difficulty asking for help from others and you may too, but the reality is the books we write will not sell themselves. We must ( meaning me) help get the word out by asking for reviews, sending copies to key contacts, and using social media including Facebook and Google + to say " hey I have something you have got to see. "

Finally, as we go into the holiday season with all of the busy activities of family and friends take time Rest. While you are resting and appreciating your blessings also take time to Plan. Planning and  mapping out your writing and promotion goals for 2014 will help you  to see where you have been this year and where you want to go in 2014. I have many ideas swirling in my head for 2014 and focusing and planning will be key.

 Here is hoping you all  have a slam bam finish to 2013.

Writing and the Balancing Act

A little over a year ago, I requested authors share their stories of how they were able to keep their lives balanced, and a small volume of shorts was born called The Write Balance.

As a writer the ability to get it all done seemed to elude me. The balancing act of not only family, work and writing, but also of writing for pleasure (otherwise known as my novel writing) with my professional writing (writing non-fiction for trade journals, clients and publications for money), and marketing (putting myself out there).

Now with the Holidays looming, a daughter's wedding in a few weeks and an upswing in clients the lessons I learned are even more important. I'll share a few of the tips I learned.

1. Take them on one at a time. My tendency is to worry and fret and then worry some more over what I will write and when I will write it. I have found listing the items in need of my attention can give me the space I need to not try to worry them all into creation at one time.

2. Exercise creates a clear space. I have found that any type of activity - walking, yoga or running - eventually forces me to let go of all my thoughts. That means that when I return to a project, I return with a clear space and many times a different perspective that propels me forward at a much more rapid pace. It's also good for my body.

3. Eating and drinking are good for you too. Living in Phoenix, dehydration is a concern. Sitting at my desk for hours and hours as I get into the groove, is not healthy and ultimately takes its toll. Not to mention that sometimes the time taken away from work, again allows me to see things differently and come back refreshed and with new ideas.

4. Know yourself. For me, creative writing is best done early in the morning. I reserve this time for my novels and first drafts of non-fiction. Marketing is my least favorite challenge and so it comes next as I need to be more focused to get it done. I finish my day with editing. In some strange way it feels more pleasurable to end my day this way and, as I enjoy it, I do not put it off.

5. Give yourself a day off here and there. Yep, its mandatory. Okay, not the whole day. You can still use your notepad to write thoughts and bits of dialog, but give yourself permission to relax and not think of any of your characters or deadlines.

Which is what I'll be doing this wedding/holiday season. I've already scheduled my days off. I love being organized & balanced!

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D. Jean Quarles is a writer of Women's Fiction and a co-author of a Young Adult Science Fiction Series. Her latest book, Flight from the Water Planet, Book 1 of The Exodus Series was written with coauthor, Austine Etcheverry.

D. Jean loves to tell stories of personal growth – where success has nothing to do with money or fame, but of living life to the fullest. She is also the author of the novels: Rocky's Mountains, Fire in the Hole and, Perception. The Mermaid, an award winning short story was published in the anthology, Tales from a Sweltering City.  

She is a wife, mother, grandmother and business coach. In her free time . . . ha! ha! ha! Anyway, you can find more about D. Jean Quarles, her writing and her books at her website at www.djeanquarles.com

You can also follower her at www.djeanquarles.blogspot.com or on Facebook

Three Reasons Why DRM is Your Enemy

There’s no avoiding the subject of Digital Rights Management (DRM).  If you’re an author who has a book being published by a traditional publisher you’ll often get told whether your e-book will have DRM.  You may be asked if you want your book to have it.  If you self-publish, you’ll have to decide at the front end whether you want it.  Kindle Direct Publishing asks you to make that choice as part of your set-up, as do many other platforms.  So what is DRM? DRM is a range of technologies that restrict what consumers can do with your electronic book (or product) once they buy it.  There are different types of DRM, the most common being restriction on copying, sharing, and printing purchased books.  This may involve encryption of the material, password protection, limits on format changes, and other ways to lock the data.  If you’re the author of copyrighted material, this may seem like a good idea – limiting illegal downloads and keeping your work secure.  However, at the end of the day, the real losers in DRM are the authors and readers. Here are three reasons why: 

1.      It’s not at all hard to break the DRM code, rendering your books unprotected.  There are a whole bunch of DRM codebreaking apps, tools, and scripts that can remove DRM. Of course your average honest reader isn’t going to bother with these tools – it’s just not worth the time when there are so many good books available that are DRM free.  But for those who really want to pirate your content, print and sell your book (good luck with that), or give a copy illegally to someone, DRM won’t make a bit of difference. 

2.       DRM is expensive. It costs more to produce an e-book with DRM. So royalties to authors from books with DRM are often lower. Costs to reader are often higher. Because DRM is complex to manage from the reader’s point of view, there are often much higher support costs as readers attempt to make books work on their readers.  All those costs become part of what it takes to get your book out. 

3.       DRM is a pain in the neck for legitimate readers. This is the biggest problem with DRM.  DRM is almost always specific to e-reader and format. A Kindle book with DRM can only be read on a Kindle.  If you buy a book for your Sony e-reader but get a Kindle for Christmas and want to read it on that, forget it.  If you’re a book reviewer like me and want to read a DRM book on your Kindle but refer to a copy in .pdf on your PC when you're writing the review, forget it.  Often a DRM book can’t be read on an upgraded e-reader of the same make. The different formats make moving from device to device difficult enough – you don’t want to make it any harder for readers to get at your wonderful words. Of course readers can crack the code if they want to (see point #1), but your average reader is not going to want to spend time cracking technological code (I know I don't) when they could be reading a DRM-free book.

I know that it’s a scary world out there and no one wants their content stolen, but as the great marketer Seth Godin famously said, the enemy is not piracy, but obscurity.  If you make it hard for readers to read your books on the variety of devices that we all like to use, you won’t minimise the risk of piracy, but you will certainly increase your chances of obscurity.  DRM counters sharing (the most important driver of fame), it impedes reading, and it limits the value of your ebooks.  In this flooded market where getting your book into readers’ hands is the name of the game, DRM is to be avoided at all costs. 

Magdalena Ball is the author of the novels Black Cow and Sleep Before Evening, the poetry books Repulsion Thrust and Quark Soup, a nonfiction book The Art of Assessment, and, in collaboration with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Sublime Planet, Deeper Into the Pond, Blooming Red, Cherished Pulse, She Wore Emerald Then, and Imagining the Future. She also runs a radio show, The Compulsive Reader Talks. Find out more about Magdalena at www.magdalenaball.com.

Finding the Story that Surrounds the Pivotal Event

Whether you are writing a memoir or developing character background, this is an exercise that can help you find the “story.”

First make a list of pivotal events from your (or character’s) life: for example, first day of school, a move to a new home, a first kiss, first loss of a family member, etc.

Choose an event from your list. Free-write for 10 minutes what comes to mind in response to these questions:

• What did you (or your character) desire in your life before this pivotal event?
• When and how did this desire begin or intensify significantly? Could this be the beginning of your story?
• Did you have a struggle in trying to fulfill this desire?
• Did you learn anything from the struggle?
• How did you change after the final pivotal event? • What did you do that indicated this change?
• What did you realize when this stage in your life came to an end?
• What do you perceive now as you remember it? When you read over your answers, you may begin to sense a story: a desire, a struggle and a conclusion.

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A native Montanan, Heidi M. Thomas now lives in North-central Arizona. Her first novel, Cowgirl Dreams, is based on her grandmother, and the sequel, Follow the Dream, won the national WILLA Award. Heidi has a degree in journalism, a certificate in fiction writing, and is a member of Northwest Independent Editors Guild. She teaches writing and edits, blogs, and is working on the next books in her “Dare to Dream” series.

The dossier - who is this character?

Guest post by Dr. Bob Rich

The dossier is a useful tool for a novelist. It can be entirely in your head, but if there are lots of characters, you may find it essential to write down the relevant details for each. That helps prevent glitches like Susie's son changing from Jim to John, or Mr Cartwright's occupation being posthole digger in chapter 5, and postman in chapter 25.

How you organise this material is up to you. I often have a set of notes at the start of the novel, to be deleted upon completion (or when the character is no longer relevant).

What goes into the dossier? Everything you as author know about the person. As more details emerge, you can add them.

You can see many examples of dossiers in published novels. A new character enters, and the author gives an instant summary of the details that will be relevant to the story. Here is an example:

Harold Smith walked into the room. He was a man in his 50s with a potbelly and salt-and-pepper hair, an overworked accountant with immense experience but questionable morals. Jill introduced me to him, saying, "Martin, meet Harold, just the man you need for your project."

This scene is clearly from Martin's point of view (POV). That is, in order to BE in the story, I as reader need to create the temporary illusion that I am Martin. The author has created a shady accountant for me to employ for some nefarious purpose, and I (Martin) am just meeting him for the first time.

So, how do I know that he is "an overworked accountant with immense experience but questionable morals?"

My point is: the AUTHOR needs Harold's dossier in order to write about him. The character Martin has no access to this dossier. Therefore, to stay within Martin's POV, the author must avoid this statement. Giving Harold's physical appearance is fine, because Martin can see that.

Here is a second example:

Genevieve Rocker felt like wetting her pants from terror, as she looked into the black hole of the gunbarrel. As a lady of 75, with a lifetime of helping people in all walks of life, she was used to all sorts of hardships. Despite the many pains of her body, she wanted to live. Her thin body shook, her blue eyes glazed over in the expectation of instant death.

If you were terrified, expecting to be shot this instant, would you be thinking about your age, your past history of helpfulness and hardships, even the many pains of your body? Of course not. You would be in that present moment, entirely focussed on the current emergency. Genevieve will feel the same way. She is completely unlikely to be concerned with her body build or eye colour, or what her eyes might look like to someone else.

So, reporting a new character's dossier is a bad thing. It is an info dump, an author intrusion, and should be treated by amputation.

When a new person comes into your life, you immediately find out a few things: gender, approximate age, physical appearance, perhaps name, tone of voice, your automatic emotional reaction to this new acquaintance. Say Harry goes on a blind date, and meets Salicia. She is not going to hand him her CV, or biography, or her scores on various psychological tests. He will find out about her in dribs and drabs, as the occasion arises.

This is how it should happen with people in a book too.

About the author: Dr Bob Rich is an Australian storyteller, with 15 published books, 4 of them award winners. His latest novel, "Ascending Spiral: Humanity's last chance," is garnering a growing list of 5 star reviews, and a few 4 star. Check out his writing showcase http://bobswriting.com

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MORE ON WRITING

To Increase Your Chances for Publication, Submit Your Manuscript
Freelancers – Finding Real Writing Jobs
Dialog That Delivers

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