VOICE REVISED

By Sharon May

One of my previous blogs focused on voice. At the time, I was in the early stages of writing a novel, which has multiple first-person narrators. My first step in brainstorming about the topic was to search the Internet. That helped me write the blog, but not the novel. I learned the definition of voice and how to build the character of a narrator, but not how to write a distinctive, engaging voice, much less several of them.

Many novels out there have bland, distant, and downright boring narrative voices, whether first or third. Or stereotypical ones. Hillbillies are painted as ignorant and are to be made fun of. Women sound whiney and/or bitchy. Men often have a false toughness, like the author is imitating how the Marlboro man might talk. Drug dealers sound like they stepped out of Pulp Fiction. What readers want is a voice that carries the novel and that is ultimately, unique and memorable.

Someone once said that when fiction has multiple narrators, a reader should be able to turn to any page and determine quickly who the narrator is. The structure of sentences and the word choices are extremely important in building narrators. Setting a novel in Appalachia, as I am, means everyone has a dialect, but all the narrators can’t have the same linguistic markers.

In reality, hillbillies will sound hillbilly, but not speak the same. Some hillbillies revel in the language of the hills, while others try to hide its influence on them. Also, some will rely heavily on the words and pronunciations that are distinct to the region. Some speakers drop -s, -g, and -ed endings. The key to creating an interesting, distinctive voice is putting all the pieces together to find the grammar of a particular narrator.

First-person narrators are not simply characters to be developed, but also story tellers. Their stories obviously raise the question of reliability. But there is more to consider. The author has to decide how and why the narrator is telling the story. What are the motivations for revealing plot and for introducing and reacting to other characters? How does each narrator relate to the surroundings and help build mood?

The voices of the two main characters of my novel, Lafe and Preston, came alive magically, organically. Honestly, I was lying down, thinking about beginning the novel again – for at least the fourth time in 30 years. Suddenly, Lafe spoke a line to me to introduce himself when I asked myself who should begin the story. Much the same happened with Preston when I was trying to determine how he is different from Lafe and what his purpose as story teller is. The other narrators are finally “finding their voices” too.

A lot of writers avoid first-person narrators because they think the work will be judged as autobiographical and by an inexperienced writer. I may not have published the novel yet, but I am getting very experienced at understanding and mastering voice.