Story Sensei

I recently had a question on Facebook about passive voice, and Heather let me answer the question on my blog. Thanks Heather! Mrs. Tang, can you recommend resources for overcoming passive voice. PV keeps sneaking it's way into my story! I didn't see a entry about PV on your Story Sensei blog. Any advice? Camy: When a writer mentions “passive voice,” there are actually two different things they could mean. (Or sometimes, they mean both!) 1) passive sentences, meaning sentences with passive verbs instead of active verbs Or 2) a passive writer’s voice, meaning the writing itself is rather stale rather than active and vibrant PASSIVE SENTENCES: Passive verbs like “was” and “were” are small and almost unnoticeable, but they tend to distance the reader from the story. By replacing passive verbs with strong action verbs, you can improve the prose dramatically. For passive sentences, I have a quick and dirty solution that I use all the time. First, I write the manusc...

This is continuing my series on things to look for in your first page. Click here for part seven. Reveal your voice When I have talked to editors and agents, they always tell me that the first thing they noticed about their clients/authors is the writer’s voice. Voice is what jumped out at them from the very first page. Voice is what captured them and compelled them to keep reading. If you’re not sure about your own writer’s voice, it’s really worth it to spend some time developing it. Voice is something that can be learned. I wrote a series of blog posts with some good exercises for developing your writer’s voice. I compiled them all into one blog article here: Developing Your Writer’s Voice Back to your first page. Utilize those opening paragraphs to showcase your unique voice. Your voice will grab the editor by the throat and make them keep reading past that first page. The great thing about voice is that you don’t have to alter the story to add voice. It’s there in how you show th...

Camy here: This is a compilation of my short series of posts on Developing Your Writer's Voice that I posted back in 2006, but I have put them all in one article for you here. One vital way to make your writing stand out is voice. In many of the contest entries I've judged and manuscripts I've critiqued, writers have muted their natural voice to sound bland and generic. Writing that's alive with its own distinct vocal flavor is a joy to read. The prose is richer and more vibrant, the characters more three-dimensional--all because the writer opens herself to her own writing style and revels in it. However, voice can also be the most difficult and slippery aspect of writing craft to discover and perfect. Raw, creative voice often doesn't result in a polished piece. The key is to first lay down the story with your unhindered voice and polish later. But how to unleash your voice? Many times, a writer's internal critic is hampering the free reign of his unique style...

I wrote this article, which originally appeared on Suite101, on how to take a cliche and make it something wonderful. Tweak a Cliché Into Something Original Take a Tired Phrase and Make It Zing Utilize a writer’s voice, a writer’s brand, phrase additions, and key words to change clichéd phrases into fresh prose. The old saying, “There’s nothing new under the sun” is very true and a death knoll for writers. How can writers come up with fresh prose when it’s all been done before? How can writers avoid using clichés when sometimes there’s no other way to say something? Utilize Your Unique Writer’s Voice There is often a way you say things that is uniquely you—utilize it in your prose. Here’s an example from my book, Single Sashimi : Venus Chau opened the door to her aunt’s house and almost fainted. “What died?” She exhaled sharply, trying to get the foul air out of her body before it caused cancer or something. The last sentence, especially, people have remarked sounds v...

I wrote this article, which originally appeared on Suite101, about how you can self-edit yourself into more vibrant prose. Strengthen Prose With Judicious Words Be Selective in Word Choices for Vibrant Writing and Strong Writer’s Voice A writer can bump their writing up to the next level and make it sparkle by being careful and thoughtful about each word used. Many times, editors will say that the writer’s “voice” in a manuscript is what catches their attention. Voice is hard to define, even for industry professionals. It’s that intangible something that makes a string of prose unique to the author, and a strong voice is what will make an editor interested in a manuscript. But one thing common to all writers who have strong writers’ voices is that their word choices and phrasing are very unique and vibrant. Whether you have discovered and developed your writer’s voice or not, here are a few tips for polishing your writing to make it stand out more with strong words and br...

Kaye Dacus interviewed me about writer’s voice. The interview is below. You can also go to her blog for more answers on writer’s voice by Gail Martin and Shelley Bates . Kaye: How did you find your unique writing voice? Did you struggle to find it or did it come easily to you? Camy: Both, actually. When I first started writing, my voice was very muted because I didn't understand what a writer's voice was. Then I started to realize that each writer needs to let her natural "voice" come out in order to distinguish herself from every other writer out there. If you pick up an Amy Tan book, you can tell the writer's voice is very different from Helen Fielding's (Bridget Jones). You'd never mistake one for the other. I wanted my voice to be distinctive like that. Once I figured that out, I let go of all inhibitions and wrote exactly how I wanted to write, regardless of rules, etc. I fixed things up in revisions, but my voice was there on the page, uninhibited an...

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Keep practicing. Voice is developed by writing, writing, writing. Try doing a voice writing exercise each week. It only takes a few minutes, and that weekly stretching and warm-up will help your writing the rest of the week. And not just short exercises--use your manuscript as practice ground for unleashing your raw voice. Take a scene, or a page of your manuscript. Work some of the exercises with that piece of your writing. Not only will you be developing your voice, you’ll also be working on beefing up your manuscript. Don’t be discouraged if the exercises don’t seem to be showing dramatic results. Often a writer’s voice comes out subtly, in waves or glimpses. Some writers’ voices are loud, others are soft and more subtle. Don’t a...

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Speak your voice through characters. Like a ventriloquist, you throw your voice into a story character so that it's you and yet not you speaking. More than anything, it should be the character's voice that dominates, but your own voice will add vibrancy to your character. Your heroine will have her own unique way of speaking, and it will also depend on her audience. She may speak one way to her mother and a different way to the hero. Through it all, don't be limited by her personality--rather, let her individuality unleash your own raw voice. Take a persona and notice if you speak directly in his voice--in his skin--or describe him as if you're in the room. Sometimes, this can indicate a preference for first person v...

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Take a lesson from children's storytelling. When children tell stories, they improvise with things connected to their emotions, urgent and important to them at the moment. The duckie in their lap, the blue carpet, the stinky smell from the diaper bag, the lint under the table. It doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't have to be polished. What makes their stories compelling is that it's raw and free. Our writers' voices come out when we can emulate their storytelling mindset. This is related to what we say in public and private. There are certain things we will only say to our families, or sometimes just to ourselves. I'm not talking about foul language or unpleasant bodily functions. Opinions, one-line zinge...

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Discover your natural rhythm. All of us have a natural cadence to our speech and thoughts. It's a combination of our genes and environments. For every writer, it's unique. Write nonsense words in grammatically correct sentences, or do free-writing--keep the pen moving even if you just write nonsense or the same sentence over and over. You'll discover things about your voice. Your sentence length, your word choice. Alliteration, metaphors, similes. Twists of phrase, dialect. Learn to be aware of these aspects of your voice's cadence.

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Write your voice with your whole body. An opera singer or a screaming child uses his entire body to project his voice. It's a comprehensive, total physical feat. A writer is the same. You want to use your entire being--your whole body--to bring out your writer's voice. This will mean different things to different writers. The important thing is to discover your own all-encompassing combination of rhythm, force, and music that is your voice. The key is all-encompassing--try to involve all of you, not just your mind. Try to imagine what it's like for you to write from your gut, from your toes, digging in with your shoulders, straining with your spine. Make it an energetic feat, requiring force and strength, pulling in aspe...

Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to find and/or further develop your voice. (Most of these exercises are taken from Finding Your Writer's Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction by Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall ) Unusual situations and a sense of urgency will bring out voice. External stimuli: Create a certain setting or mood by surrounding yourself with objects that will put you emotionally in different states. Try laying on your desk several things that make you mad. Or maybe things that make you sad. Be creative and utilize all five senses. Create different atmospheres that run the gamut of your emotions--don't hold back. Explore difficult emotions, intense emotions. Internal stimuli: Use your mind to put you in different places, at different times. A cold, lonely prison cell. A loud, crowded prison cell. An abandoned warehouse during WW2 with bombs exploding. A desolate cornfield during the Depression. What's important is to put ...

One vital way to make your writing stand out is voice. In many of the contest entries I've judged and manuscripts I've critiqued, writers have muted their natural voice to sound bland and generic. Writing that's alive with its own distinct vocal flavor is a joy to read. The prose is richer and more vibrant, the characters more three-dimensional--all because the writer opens herself to her own writing style and revels in it. However, voice can also be the most difficult and slippery aspect of writing craft to discover and perfect. Raw, creative voice often doesn't result in a polished piece. The key is to first lay down the story with your unhindered voice and polish later. But how to unleash your voice? Many times, a writer's internal critic is hampering the free reign of his unique style, but certain exercises can help him lift all restraints, open the cage door, and let the lion roar. Not all these exercises will work for every writer, but some might enable you to...

While a synopsis is usually not your best writing, and a synopsis is all telling and no showing, you should nevertheless try to make the synopsis sound like your writer's voice and the tone of the story. If your story is poignant, try to make the synopsis sound that way. If your writer's voice is uniquely quirky and the story is, too, try to get that into the synopsis. Risa Takayama has no social life because she's thrown all her energies into her wedding accessories shop in the mall. Unconventional, rebellious Risa hates the numerous family gatherings because her aunts tweak her about her weight and lack of a Significant Other. vs. Risa Takayama would rather eat rotten tofu than listen to her aunts’ tweaking her about her weight. She’s the Elephant Man next to her Barbie-doll cousins with their Ken sidekicks, so she throws herself into her wedding accessories shop in the mall, All the Trimmings. She’s becoming so savvy and self-sufficient, she hasn’t needed to bother God f...