In 2006, I was sitting with eleven other students and one mentor during our first meeting at the Loft’s Mentor Series Program. I sat upright, legs crossed, trying to project professionalism and writerly ju-ju while hoping that no one would learn that I basically wrote between diaper changes and during my children’s naps.
Our first mentor, poet Jim Moore, told us that this was our year to find our voice as authors. A woman whose entrance piece I had read and greatly admired raised her hand. She said something like: “I understand the idea of the voice of a piece, but what is the author’s voice? And how do I find it?”
She argued very persuasively that each piece has a unique voice but the idea of an “author’s voice” was too nebulous and too changeable to “find.” Still trying to hide my ignorance, I said nothing—a cowardly decision, a decision I regret, and a decision I paid for over eight long years. It is only now that I understand that both Jim and the burgeoning writer were right.
It was the beginning of spring break.
Everything at home was boring.
Link Arwalker was like, “I’m so null,” and Marty was all, “I’m null, too, unit.”
“The rain poured from the heavens as we fled across the mud-flats, that scene of desolation; it soaked through our clothes andbit at the skin with its chill. It fell hard and ceaseless from the heavens as the deluge that had both inundated Deucalion and buoyed up Noah; and as with that deluge, we knew not whether it fell as an admonition for our sins or as the promise of a brighter, newly washed morning to come.”
commonalities? What techniques do you rely on? Which ones do you over-rely on? You might write across genres, but underneath it all what questions drive the characters, the themes, the plot?
Swati Avasthi is the author of the novel, Split (Random House/Knopf, 2010), winner of a Cyblis Young Adult Fiction Award, a Parents' Choice 2010 Silver Award, a New Voices 2010 pick by the Assn of Booksellers for Children, and an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults pick. Her second novel, Chasing Shadows, also by Random House/Knopf, was published in September of 2013 and received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, and more.
Thanks, Swati, for reminding us to take the difficult path–and to read more M.T. Anderson.
Jackie — I see this in your work too actually! I see the question of what inspires greatness in your work which is one of the reasons I so enjoy reading your PBs.
I read Octavian Nothing volume 1 and just loved the voice, once I got used to it (and I learned so many new words!) Just picked up Volume 2 yesterday, and I can't wait to read it (thirty more books to go on the book list first, though.)
Ha! We do keep you busy.
Love this, Swati. Till recently, I've given a lot more thought to the voice of each piece rather than my own author's voice, and how it might reside in the themes that fascinate — or plague — me. Thanks for this.
That's so funny because I thought of you when I finished this and wondered to myself — am I saying anything different than what Laura Ruby said when she lectured on Writing Fear?
Thank you, Swati, for explaining voice so concisely. It's one of those concepts like theme that we talk around a lot because it's so hard to define.
Thanks,Mandy. It is a bit of a slippery concept, isn't it? There's something else here that I'm still trying to tease out — something about patterns. I notice, for instance, that in the two books I've cited above, MT Anderson starts us in similar places — a boy on a journey. Obviously, I can't quite articulate it yet– something about our approach to structure maybe? I should ask Marsha Q.
One of my current Hamline students commented how this post made her think about both kinds of voice in her novel. Thank you, brilliant friend, for getting us to think about both kinds. Your questions toward the end are great ones to consider and apply to NF, too. You know how excited that gets me. How about a talk on this at an upcoming residency?
Claire– As Tobin's latest book demonstrates, those who write across genres tend to still be fascinated by the same questions.