The Author's voice

I'm pondering, of late, how one goes about finding one's voice, as an author.  To all you still in school, that is part of your Language Arts learning.  (I know it is.  I have read the Curriculum documents.  Heh.)

Here's a couple of good links that speak to the idea of "voice":

http://www.write4kids.com/feature3.html

http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/glossary/g/voice.htm

It bears thinking.  The concept of "voice", as it applies to the stories that you write, is one that you learn as you go.  The more you write, the more you learn about your own writing process, the more you learn what your voice feels like when it is present on the page.

I feel that many of my chapters do have elements of voice to them.  They are inconsistent, though.  I'm learning how to recognize this sort of thing as I go here.  I do not relish the thought of a total re-write on this manuscript, but I'm thinking that some kind of process like it will be the only way that I can get all the styles to line up better. 
I know that I need to find a better literary vehicle to drive the plot given that the chapters jump forward through Topaz's life, sometimes 3 or 4 years at a time.  As I have it now, there's not a through line yet.  The chapters are episodic.
Maybe I need to treat this as a series of short stories.  Hrm... limiting, perhaps, but it is a way to address the discontinuity. 
Saul is probably going to have to be the through line, then, since he's the constant in Topaz's ever-changing life.  The story is about Topaz growing up, but the central character could be Saul?  NO.  That's too much of a change. 
More research is needed here.  I will finish the adjustments that I'm making right now, but these topics need to be addressed. 

I have a goal now....several actually.  Good.  One needs goals in one's life.

Pre-chapter blurbs

When you read stories, sometimes it's the little extra bits that add depth to a created world.  This is an interesting side task.  I'm finding that this little tidbit is a neat challenge...a chance to set the tone for the chapter, maybe even a key to understanding what is to follow.

Here are a few examples:
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In Dream, we visit our other selves
so that we remember what we learned
when we were them.
      One of the Pearl Realm Mysteries

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Everything grows
when you know how to nourish it.
     Saying from the Emerald Realm

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“But, sirrah, you are but one. How will you survive battling so many?”

“Majesty, I am but one, but if I bear your favor, then I shall be many times more than myself.”
     from “The Peridot Queen and the Opal Knight”, a children’s tale.

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TTFN
J.A.Gartshore

Thoughts about the process

Hello everyone.
I've read this tidbit in various resources, and once again it makes sense for me.
Read.  Read voraciously.  Absorb stories and sentences and cool turns of phrase into your brain from it all.  This is the bank of words that you use when you create your own stories.
Having recently finished "The Lost Gate," by Orson Scott Card, I was reminded of this...by the simple fact that the man can assemble words together in a truly masterful way.  His prose is very easy for me to absorb. 

Choose your favorite author, re-read a book of his/hers, then go and write something.  It's how you grow.  After all, you are the one who knows your story first . . . the trick is making it so that others can know it too.

J.A. Gartshore

AHHH! A new direction of effort...again!

I love my wife more and more, ya know that. She sees with different eyes, and not the filled eyes I have from looking at the depths of this story for as long as I have. She is truly my peridot...she comes to me and I am empowered by her.


Thanks to her, I am beginning to see that my current manuscript is, in fact, the first two books of my series, schmucked together. Therefore, I'm beginning to look at filling out the first part of the story, up to Topaz's graduation...treating that event as the climax. The adept stories that happen in the second half will certainly be kept, but interspurced with Academy elements.



Back to the drawing board....
 
...this means that all the sensory descriptions that I glossed over can now be expanded to a much greater extent.
...the interactions can be broadened.
...the emotional reactions to things can be revealed more thoroughly
...the Topaz Realm can be explored even more.
 
This burst of revisionist thinking is actually coming from two sources.  The first is my wife's suggestions, of course.  The second comes from having almost inhaled a new book by Orson Scott Card, called "The Lost Gate."   Greatjumpingsquashnibbletsonaflamingkabobstick!   THAT MAN IS A MASTERFUL WORD-SMITH!!!!  It's not my concept, thank goodness, but it does explore a magic system that is fresh and that breathes life into aspects of human history like nothing I've read in ages!  
 

 
Read his stuff.  Now.  Right now.  Find this book, or "Ender's Game" and subsequent books, or anything by the man, and read.  He's that good.  'Nuff said.
 
J.A.Gartshore
 
p.s.  New life is breathed into my stories here, with the need to further expand.  It's exciting, and infuriating, all at the same time. 

A fresh crew...welcome

If you are new to my blog, I bid you welcome. 

Just so that I can get a sense of who you all are, could you please....


1)     Introduce yourself
2)     Mention what month / gem you are



If you want to tell me a bit about yourself, you are welcome to.  This is a blog that I'm using as a thinking space for the stories.  There are many concepts here that I'm exploring for stories that happen later on in the Arc. 

I will answer, if I can, answer any questions you would like to ask me.

I really appreciate your interest, and I look forward to your reactions as you move forward in the reading of my work.



Fate Favor You.



Jeffrey A. Gartshore.