Voice and Non-Fiction

[BlackShanglan]

I'm trying to break ground on a collection of short vignettes that are drawn from life. I am, however, balking at the gate over the issue of voice. It's all very well to say "use your own natural voice," but I think it's going to take more thought than that. For one thing, I don't have a single natural voice - quite literally, if in no other sense, as I live with someone from another country and even my accent swings back and forth depending on my recent conversational companions. I'm alive to the idea of voice as a writing element and think that I can maintain reasonably consistant voice through a piece, but I can't seem to settle on the sound and style that would suit this topic.

I think that to some extent I am facing the issue many authors face in writing erotica about real life. There's actually little that makes me back-click faster than the opening line of "I really wanted to tell this story, because it really happened!" Writing about actual events has a way of luring us astray from all we know about what makes a good story and good style. I'm fighting hard to work this out from the start so as to keep a proper awareness of the art as well as the events, but it's proving difficult to make a start of it.

It's a collection of stories from an animal shelter. What sort of narrator qualities would you consider? Part of me wants to go serious, gentle, and quiet, because some of the stories are quite sad. On the other hand, that's not a great first-page impression so far as luring in the readers. The SO says to go more light and "more like Pope" (my erotic story featuring Alexander Pope), which would be more helpful if I could figure out what precisely is meant by that. (We've been around that one a few times.) I think in my gut that the SO has a point about being more lively, but I am trying to figure out how that's going to work when I have to talk about less happy topics. Obviously voice can shift between vignettes, but I don't want to get totally schizophrenic.

Ideas?

Shanglan

 

[Guest]

It sounds like a wonderful idea but I don't know if I could read it, Shang.

I can't even walk into a shelter without getting teary-eyed, knowing that most of those animals will be euthanized.

But in a collection the first story should be a happy ending, anyway, as you've already stated. Kids and puppies or older widower and older cat, for example. I don't know.

Ah, hell. Those would probably make me cry, too.

 

[oggbashan]

James Herriot, he of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" had the same problem. I think his first stories were pastiches of Trollope and he had to rewrite them in a more informal style.

I think that the voice doesn't matter in the first few drafts. Write the story, incident or whatever and then edit a copy or copies into a different voice until you find a method of presentation that seems to work.

Og

 

[dr_mabeuse]

These are going to be stories about the humans working in the shelter, right? Not animal stories?

I think Og has it exactly right. Herriott maintained a very human, gentle voice which allowed for a lot of joy and a lot of sadness too. He made you proud to be a human being.

The thought of him having sex with some of his patients' owners? Yeah, I guess I could see it. It wouldn't be hot and heavy hip-slamming action though.

 

[BlackShanglan]

But in a collection the first story should be a happy ending, anyway, as you've already stated. Kids and puppies or older widower and older cat, for example. I don't know.

Absolutely. The first story is actually the story of my first day there, where I really did see something that drastically revised my attitude toward the shelter world and the people in it. If it was fiction, I would call that suspiciously convenient, but there it is as living fact. Life works that way some times. And happy all around, hope for people and for animals.

Og, excellent point. I was just mulling that as I was posting to the thread on how to break writer's block. Maybe I just need to get words on page. My one fear with that is that I will start out with a bad voice and end up sticking ti it through habit. I've never done a major voice revision on a completed work, so that prospect is a little daunting to me. That said, I did revise narrator voice on "Will" and I was happy with the results, so I suppose I must have it in me somewhere.

Yes. Press on. Otherwise I will be like the character in "The Plague" who revises the first sentence of his projected novel throughout the entire book. He's sure that if he can just get that first sentence absolutely perfect, everything else will follow. There's a lesson in that.

These are going to be stories about the humans working in the shelter, right? Not animal stories?

Some of each, actually. Mostly focusing on how the two groups affect each other. Some are about specific animals, some are about specific people, some are about ideas and concepts in the shelter. There's some comedy, some tragedy, some feel-good parts. I think you're right about Herriot - he really did manage to cover all of those sorts of emotions. I need to go re-read him and think about how he does that. I think the down-to-earthness of him and the deliberately less "emotional" (i.e. overblown) approach is what gave his work a lot of power. I've been struggling with how best to convey the impact of the place; maybe I do need to step back and use a lighter touch.

Good food for thought.

Shanglan

(PS - No sex, although one of our employees was eventually fired for having sexual hijinks with another employee during the night shifts. I believe it was the discovery of a sex toy in the public area that led to this.)

 

[Guest]

. . . (PS - No sex, although one of our employees was eventually fired for having sexual hijinks with another employee during the night shifts. I believe it was the discovery of a sex toy in the public area that led to this.)

*Gasp!*

The puppy dogs didn't get ahold of it did they?

(Oooh - puppy teeth on jelly dongs . . . )

 

[carsonshepherd]

I've got some thoughts on this for you later, S. Sounds like an awesome project and I can't wait to see what you do with it!

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I don't have much to add (excellent comments so far) other than I'm not sure if I agree with Og and drM in one detail. At least for me, the narrative voice has to be a part of the process from the very start. It's my impression that the voice causes a more lasting impression than the story or the characters themselves, and the development of the story depends more of the adopted voice than the contrary. Just a thought.

 

[oggbashan]

I don't have much to add (excellent comments so far) other than I'm not sure if I agree with Og and drM in one detail. At least for me, the narrative voice has to be a part of the process from the very start. It's my impression that the voice causes a more lasting impression than the story or the characters themselves, and the development of the story depends more of the adopted voice than the contrary. Just a thought.

I used to agree with that until I hit a block on one story. Changing the viewpoint from 1st to 3rd didn't help. Changing the voice and retaining 1st eventually worked. Printing out all three versions and then comparing was the deciding moment.

If the story doesn't work at all, and that one of mine didn't, drastic measures can help.

James Herriot, whom I mentioned above, had been trying to sell his work for years. When he changed the voice he was a great success and now the voice for his books seems ideal. I can't imagine them written as a Trollope pastiche.

Og

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I used to agree with that until I hit a block on one story. Changing the viewpoint from 1st to 3rd didn't help. Changing the voice and retaining 1st eventually worked. Printing out all three versions and then comparing was the deciding moment.

So, maybe it was the wrong voice to begin with, and everything would have gone smoother if more thought had gone into it from the start?

I'm joking. Of course that sometimes you're going to stumble into a storyline that will beg for a change of voice and a complete re-vamping of the story, but the principle still stands, I think.

 

[oggbashan]

So, maybe it was the wrong voice to begin with, and everything would have gone smoother if more thought had gone into it from the start?

I'm joking. Of course that sometimes you're going to stumble into a storyline that will beg for a change of voice and a complete re-vamping of the story, but the principle still stands, I think.

Thought? What has that got to do with starting a story?

When the Muses direct, the story usually comes with a particular voice. But when their trumpet makes an uncertain sound then confusion can confound.

Black Shanglan asked about Non-Fiction. I think the rules for that are different. Look at the way different newspapers and other media report the same news story. The emphasis is different, the wording is different, the whole story might read or appear so different that it might be difficult to recognise. Each is a different voice from a different standpoint addressed to a target audience.

A book explaining Glaciation would be different for 10 year olds, for 16 year olds, for university students and would vary for Africa or Iceland. The subject would be the same. The treatment would change.

Og

 

[jfinn]

I'm with Og here. Just write it out and don't worry about it. This is generally the way I start everything and usually what happens is after a while I realize I've just sort of slid into the type of voice that works best for me in the story. Then I go back and rewrite the first bits (but I don't reread them because I might lose the feel) to match.

Jayne

 

[BlackShanglan]

I am now torn every way. Having looked back at the first draft of the introduction, I can't help but think that Lauren is right and that the voice itself led me down that rabbit hole! What a puzzle. Got some other intriguing advice by PM too - the upshot was that one might think about fictionalizing the voice while retaining the truth of the experience, which was most intriguing. Part of me wants to just write it to get myself moving; the rest (the part that's been hesitating to date) is worried about exactly the sort of thing Lauren describes.

But Herriot. Must re-read Herriot. Fortunately I've got a copy on the bookshelf. I don't read much non-fiction, but I think I will need to sit down and brainstorm over which non-fiction I have liked.

At least, if I can solve this, I've got plenty of material. I sat down a few months ago and just jotted out one-line reminders - a few words each - of events and people to include in their own vignettes. I thought I'd be happy if I ended up with fifteen or twenty. I got a page and a half. It needs weeding and structuring, but there's certainly plenty there.

It's just amazing, some of what you see in a place like that.

Shanglan

 

[carsonshepherd]

still have thoughts... will PM them eventually...

 

[jfinn]

But Herriot. Must re-read Herriot. Shanglan

I'm going to try and complicate your life further here so be warned.

Are you really sure you want to reread Herriot? Don't get me wrong, I loved his books and think he did a brilliant job, but if it were me, that's the very reason why I'd stay as far away from his stuff as possible for fear of ending up just imitating him, and I'd probably do a lousy job at that as well.

This is something I have to fight against all the time. I'm a natural mimic and I can pick up styles like some people can imitate voices. It's a neat parlor trick and great for bullshitting your way through some writing exercises, but it stinks when you're trying for originality. It's also the easiest way I know to end up with a frustrating mess that comes off sounding like I'm trying to rip off someone elses work.

So if it was me I'd struggle through on my own, looking for my own truths and my own way of making it work. Herriot told his story, now you tell yours.

I know the above probably wasn't very helpful (I did warn you though) but here's a more positive contribution (I hope). When you're thinking back over these memories what's the background noise like? Do you always remember the noise or is it very quiet? What's the atmosphere like, is it pretty much always the same or does it change minute by minute? How does it smell? (Well, maybe not that one.) Is there a natural beat to your memories with automatic stops and pauses--sometimes you can find a piece of music that reflects this and play it while you're writing to put you in the right frame of mind to tell the story with the right emotions.

Argh, I'm not explaining this well, but what I'm getting at is that visualization can sometimes evoke your voice for a particular memory. Sit back, close your eyes and remember. Then tell the story out loud into a tape recorder. Wait a day and play it back and see if that gives you some clue about how to proceed. And don't be surprised if what you hear out loud is completely different than how you think it sounds.

Okay I'm done babbling.

Jayne

 

[LadyJeanne]

Shanglan, sweet, take a deep breath and trust yourself. Your gentle voice comes through in everything you've written. I have no doubt that you will treat this material with the same care. Your clever wit is in evidence in your posts. If there's a place for humor, you will find it.

You're writing this because you have something to say, because thoughts and sentences are spinning around in your head, because the story wants to come out. Your voice will be there without even trying. Let it guide your first draft, and then revise and edit once you've spilled it all out. Trust yourself.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Shanglan, sweet, take a deep breath and trust yourself. Your gentle voice comes through in everything you've written. I have no doubt that you will treat this material with the same care. Your clever wit is in evidence in your posts. If there's a place for humor, you will find it.

You're writing this because you have something to say, because thoughts and sentences are spinning around in your head, because the story wants to come out. Your voice will be there without even trying. Let it guide your first draft, and then revise and edit once you've spilled it all out. Trust yourself.

Just what I wanted to say

 

[Guest]

Shanglan, sweet, take a deep breath and trust yourself...Your voice will be there without even trying. Let it guide your first draft, and then revise and edit once you've spilled it all out. Trust yourself.

I want to second LadyJeanne's thoughts. Let the characters lead you. Trust them and yourself and the voice will follow.

Also, if you have many stories to tell, you may find different voices emerge.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Jfinn, I really liked your advice on listening to the location and letting the sounds and sensations come through to me, then using that to help shape voice. That's an imaginative and interesting idea, and I think I'll do a good brainstorm on it. You made me smile with your comment on Herriot, as well. I had thought much the same thing, and already decided just to read a chapter and to make notes about what worked on an objective level rather than try to catch the diction itself. As you said - it's a neat party trick, but not what this calls for.

Thank you all very much for the kind encouragement. It's very generous. I think I'm just a bit anxious about this because I'm conscious of the obligations I take upon myself when I write it. There are some lovely stories that I think will make people happy and enable them to see the hope and joy that can be found in such a place. But I will also have to speak for the victims of some terrible tragedies and injustices, and I feel very painfully how inadequate I am to do justice to them. Two in particular are still very much part of my life, although now beyond all care. I couldn't forgive myself if I reduced them to bathos or sentimentality.

In their case, I think I must simply write. Honestly, it is all I can do, as I cannot speak of either them in company. But I think I must also remember the "less is more" credo. The most moving things are often the most simply written. I think I have to resist trying to convey my own emotion, which overwhelms me, and instead concentrate on letting the reader feel the circumstances. If I can, then the reader will feel the emotion, which is a much better thing than hearing about it.

I know what must be done. It's the "how" that is the sticking point. Thank you all for your excellent advice on that topic.

Shanglan