Voices

More on the upcoming year, in regards to writing.  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about voices in my stories.  It’s a tough subject to tackle, especially in a short-form blog like this, because there’s so much nuance packed in there.  What kinds of voices?  Whose voices?  Am I talking inclusiveness of characters, or am I talking about the style of storytelling I happen to be using?  Am I talking about dialogue or am I talking about language?  All of the above or something else entirely?

Sometimes I feel as though I keep writing the same story over and over again, just using different backdrops.  Granted, I’m reading and rereading and revising my own words over and over again for so long, to the point where it all starts to blend together and I can’t help but see all the similarities between a character in A Division of Souls and a character in Meet the Lidwells, two completely different stories with completely different settings and styles.  What I have to remind myself is that I’m not hearing the different characters…I’m hearing me writing those characters.

This was one of the reasons I was thinking of taking some time off in 2019 before embarking on another novel project.  I want to find a new voice within myself.  I want to continue to tell my stories, but I feel like I’ve written everything I wanted to write with my current voice.  And that voice has changed over the years, but my stories haven’t.  It’s time to get realigned and bring that new voice to the forefront.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be working out how I’ll do this and start fresh on January 1, like I always do.  I’ve already done my Year End/Year Ahead post the other day, so I can just post my whiteboard schedule plans and call that done.

Then the real work will begin.