The Unconventional Convention: Author Viola Ryan

Voice is probably the most elusive concept in writing. Our jobs as writers is not to tell a story. People will forget what you say or do. What they remember is how you make them feel. Our jobs as writers is to make the reader feel something. We do that through our voice.

Voice is knowing your strengths, playing them up and using them to compensate for your weaknesses. The key is to know thyself. Know what is important to you. Know what part of writing you love. Know what part of writing you hate. Know what people who read your stuff react to. Know how you want to affect people.

My biggest weakness is plot and action. Today I crafted two scenes that needed to be uber-tense. I did this by focusing on the relationship between the characters, one of my strengths. The tension doesn't exist between the two characters, but the two characters united against a common foe. What I focused on what how the foe made the heroine feel and how this affected the hero. I'm happy with what resulted.