Let's Discuss - The Narrative Voice
When writing any fiction, not just fantasy, there is something that I look out for always when I'm editing, the narrative voice. The narrative voice is the culmination of many factors that communicate description, action, thought processes, and context to the audience, and all whilst being anchored to the point of view (POV) character.
Firstly, what are these factors?
- Tone → This should lend itself to the atmosphere of the writing. Should there be an underlying sense of dread? An element of mystery? Word choice and sentence structure are key to finding the tone of the writing and effect on the reader.
- Perspective → Think of your character, how do you wish to tell their story? First, second, or third person? No matter which, you reflect your POV character. Getting this right is important, especially in books with multiple POV characters.
- Reliability → Is your narrator reliable? Whether the narrator is yourself, or one or more characters, think about how much you want to let the audience know at what points. Also, if the narrator's knowledge is the truth or if they just think it is.
- Emotion → The narrative voice should provoke an emotional response from the audience. Using the above factors helps this one, but think about the highs, the lows, and how they can be balanced. A little humour can temper those moments of extreme drama. Sudden crisis can push a reader out of the false sense of security you've lulled them into.
- Rhythm → Not every sentence is the same length. Not in words, nor syllables, and definitely not in punctuation. Play with your sentences, if something doesn't sound right, then move it and change the pace, the style or motif. After all, stories were once only ever told orally, not written.
- Individuality → Every writer is unique. Find what makes your voice yours. No one else can tell your story but you.
Now we know what we're discussing, let me help you find your narrative voice. A narrative voice is not something that will immediately appear once you put pen to paper (or keystrokes to Word), in fact it grows with you. The more you write, the better you get, the more of your voice comes out and before you know it your unique voice will dazzle us all. But what can we do to help us grow?
- Emulation → is there a particular mood, or style, of writing you find inspiring? Deconstruct it, and then emulate it for your own work (you don't need to publish, this is just for you). Be mindful of what you're aiming for, we don't wish for you to rip off or plagiarise our fellow writers! Emulating your inspirational sources is a great way to train your writing muscles to target the tone you're after.
- Experimentation → Change things up! Swap POV, change your tense, adopt a new style! Maybe try focussing on dialogue instead of descriptions, or vice versa. Strip back everything to it's bare bones and then rebuild it to focus more on the details instead of exposition. Why not? You'll be editing later anyway, and this might help you come up with another way of telling the story that you may just like better.
My advice is go crazy! You are going to edit later, so if you fancy writing in that one singular POV swap just to get the writing done, then do it! Make it now, make it better later.
