One of my visitors, Rinda Elliott (aka The Write Snark: http://relliott4.wordpress.com/), brought up the issue of voice, which is an ongoing issue for even the most fluent writers. I sent out a few e-mails to find some answers, and received one that I thought was brilliant. This author told me that when she is feelilng like her voice is becoming cloudy, she will write no less than five short stories, usually based on characters from the novel she is working on. She said the beauty with writing short stories (four to ten pages in length) is there is no room for "fluff." It is, "make one good point, and make it quick. This will reinforce your voice, especially if you are staying consistent from story to story. If not, find the spots where it drifts and write them again, paying attention to consistency."
Thanks to M. for the tip, and if any of you write a short story or five, please post them here. (I promise not to add any critique.)
2 comments:
I totally agree. It's why I said I sometimes flub in the book length pieces. Usually, all I have to do is work on a short piece and I'm good to go.
I write short stories almost exclusively. I find it a challange to develop something in a short time and capture the elements that make a good story (setting, theme, characters, etc.) quickly. I agree with your author friend that short stories are a great way to exercise one's voice. Nice blog. I need to check out this Write Snark person.
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