Lesson 13: Finding Narrative Voice

Ah, narrative voice. Mountains of paper and ink battles galore have sprouted from the discussion of what narrative voice is, where it comes from, and how it can be honed. Don't expect the conclusion of the discussion below. But hopefully we'll be able to dig into what can be a complicated subject, and come away with a clearer idea of this important part of the writer's craft.

What Is Narrative Voice?

If you have studied writing at all, or you've been writing for a while, you will likely recognise the following discussion. Voice is a difficult thing to explain and can take a lifetime to master.

In essence, the narrative voice refers to the overall word flow in a story. When you speak, you structure your words in a way that others may not choose. The way you speak is unique. The way you write can be just as unique, or more so.

I'll avoid the abstract discussions that plague this subject, and just dive into word choice. Here are seven different voices expressing exactly the same moment.

Writer 1: "Kevin was barely conscious of the deafening cicadas high in the trees as he walked."
Writer 2: "Kevin focused on his footsteps and didn't notice the cicadas' loud chirping in the trees."
Writer 3: "Kevin picked his way through the swaying trees as the sun rippled on the ground, oblivious to the chorus of the cicadas."
Writer 4: "Kevin squinted his eyes, blocking out the noisy cicadas perched in the trees around him, and focused on putting one foot in front of the other."
Writer 5: "Kevin ambled forward, ignoring the cicadas."
Writer 6: "Kevin shoved his way through the undergrowth, cicadas ringing in his ears, trees bending in the breeze, and ignored everything."
Writer 7: "Kevin closed his ears to the grinding racket of the cicadas and went on."

From these examples, you can see that each different voice:
  • explores some aspects of the moment and pushes others to the side (#5 and #7 don't even mention the trees, #3 spends a lot of time on the environment)
  • uses different words for the same action (walked, picked his way, ambled, went on, focused on his footsteps)
  • uses different phrasing for the same description (oblivious to the chorus, didn't notice the chirping, blocked out the cicadas, etc)
  • uses different descriptive words (grinding, deafening, chirping, ringing, etc)
  • leaves the reader with a different feeling


The three "uses different..." items above refer to what we call the texture of the writing. We'll return to texture later in the course and give it a full week (much less than it deserves!)

Many of the terms used to described painting can be applied directly to fiction in this way. If you paint, think about the correlations between the two art forms and you'll have some surprising realisations. Due to space, I can't take time to point them out here.

Where Does It Come From?

Narrative voice is the most uniquely personal stamp you can put on your fiction. If you come up with a story idea, you can rest assured that a hundred other people (at least) have had the same idea. What makes your story unique and worth reading is the fact that you are telling it! The more purely you tell the story, the more worthwhile the story will be. On the other hand, the more you let your voice be molded by admired authors or friends' expectations, the more it will be a shallow copy of what it could be.

So how do you find your unique voice?

The best advice I ever received on this was this: write as you would ideally speak. We have probably all had moments when we think of the perfect thing to say, about three hours after we should have said it. While writing, you're free to think about it for three hours, and no one will know!

When you have a piece of writing "done", read it aloud, pencil and note paper in hand. Don't whisper it, do an honest job of reading it aloud. If you've never done this before, be prepared to be shocked with the number of phrases and words that will sound strange or completely wrong.

When visual artists are at work, they often hold their work up to a mirror and instantly they can recognise things that need correction. Reading aloud is your mirror. When you read out loud, you cannot help noticing the difference between the voice in your story, and your true narrative voice. The more detailed attention you pay as you read out loud, the more your narrative voice will grow into your voice.

Extended Voice

Besides the narrative voice, your voice as a writer is defined in a few other aspects of your writing.

What subject matter you take on has a huge impact on your voice. Tom Clancy tried writing a short novel about suburban home life a few years ago, which was tolerated due to his name, and sold well, but it could never be taken seriously as literature. Every author faces the same challenge, and that means you too. If you're interests lie in murder mysteries and you're writing romances, it's time to switch, now!

A final aspect of narrative voice to consider is focus. Two writers can choose to write about the ruining of a family's reputation due to an alchoholic parent in a small town in (name-that-county), and they will come up with two very different stories. One will focus on how the community turns its back on the family, whilst another will focus on how the family's actions leave the community no choice except to turn its back on the family. Your interpretation of a story plays an important role in establishing your voice.

Assignment: Due by the end of Tuesday, 29 July

Length: One half-page assignment, and one one-page assignment.

1. Half-page: Rewrite the sentence "Torri drove through the red light without looking back", in a minimum of six different ways (in the same way as demonstrated in the What Is Narrative Voice section above). Ideally you should write different versions of this sentence until it becomes hard to come up with another way, and then do two more sentences. Post your sentences. As with the examples in the lesson, feel free to add and subtract from the sentence in a limited fashion.

2. One page: Pick any one-page (about 700 word) writing sample from your previous writing — either for this course or elsewhere. If you have never written anything in your life, choose one of the exercises from the previous lessons and write it. It does not need to be (and perhaps should not be) a complete story, or have a clear beginning or ending. Using paper or an electronic copy, read the piece out loud, stopping every time something strikes you as needing a correction. Make the corrections, then post BOTH the original and corrected copies.