Blog 21: Look who's talking now!

Hello, creative writers! I don’t know about where you are, but over here, in the North West of England, the weather was glorious for quite a few weeks. I took advantage of being out, under the blue skies and feeling the warm sunshine. There’s nothing quite like some vitamin D and the spring-time colours to make you feel good and inspired to do a little writing.

So, there you are in the park, sitting on a bench, listening to the birds, smelling the flowers in the air, watching the tree branches swaying gently in the breeze, and getting all kinds of ideas for your next story. Fantastic, right? But wait! How are you going to narrate it?

Yes! I am following in Shannon Eilis’s footsteps, or fingertips on her keyboard, and discussing voice, but this time, within fiction. There can be many voices in one story. The main one is the narrator, and others are from the characters’ dialogue. They should all be distinct. Like poetry, we are looking at the point of view, or the vantage point from which the narrator is telling it.

Now, if your story is written in first person, from the main character’s point of view, then they and the narrator are one and the same­, easy-peasy. Well, that is if you don't have more than one main character. I have read a book about a couple, where the chapters alternated from his to her point of view. I wish I still had this book, and cannot recall the title, however, it portrayed a clear voice for each character, their biases towards each other, and their experiences, told from their own perspectives. Instead of getting one account of what happened, it gave two. Which was a much clearer picture of the overall story.

However, if you decide to write in third or second person, you are going to have to work out what kind of person your narrator is. An author should not use the same narrative voice for all of their stories. Each one should have its own, depending on what and whom you are writing about. The narrator is essentially another character that you have to create. Think of it as if you are the director of a play and need to appoint an actor to narrate it. So, how do you figure out what type of voice to choose?

Ask yourself a few questions:-

1. Who is telling it? Another character in the story, an onlooker perhaps from the same time period?

   
   

2. Who are they telling it to? The reader, another character, or themselves?

   
   

3. Where are they telling it from? Is it in the present, as it happens? Has it happened recently, or are they retelling it from long ago, in their past?

   
   

4. How much do they know? As much as one or a few characters’ perspectives, or are they able to jump into everyone’s heads and tell all?

   
   

5. How invested are they in the characters and what is happening to them?

   
   

Let’s look at some examples:-

It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. Spiritual revelations were conceded to England at that favoured period, as at this. Mrs. Southcott had recently attained her five-and-twentieth blessed birthday, of whom a prophetic private in the Life Guards had heralded the sublime appearance by announcing that arrangements were made for the swallowing up of London and Westminster. (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, written in 1859).

We can determine by the use of language here that this is written by a character of an older time period, who is well educated. If the same story were written by a character from the twenty-first century, it would be worded completely differently. For instance: -

In the year 1775, England was considered to be a place of significant spiritual insight, or revelation, as it is today. Mrs Southcott had recently turned 25 years of age …

Let’s zip forward in time to something written in 2016, taken from a compilation of short stories entitled The Pier Falls: -

He loved Mars bars and Kitkats. He loved Double Deckers and Galaxy Caramels and Yorkies. He loved Reese’s Pieces and Cadbury’s Crème Eggs. He could eat a whole box of Quality Street in one sitting and had done so on several occasions, perhaps more than several. (Bunny written by Mark Haddon).

The two styles are very different. This is much more up-to-date language, less formal, and starts by way of a list, as the third-person narrator tells us about this character’s obsession with food. I don’t know about you, but my mouth is watering. I do love my chocolate!

Finally, I am going to show you a voice that is completely different: -

Mother died 2 years ago. I came home from school one day and no one answered the door, so I went and found the secret key that we keep under a flowerpot outside the kitchen window. (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon).

You will note that the last two examples are written by the same author, yet have completely different voices. The latter is in first person and portrays the voice of an autistic teenager. Therefore, it is quite matter-of-fact, detailed, and has a younger vocabulary. The story goes on to show how this character’s mind works, how he remembers things, and his outlook on the world.

Therefore, the kind of person you choose influences how the story is told. Factors like gender, age, race, background, and sense of humour will all impact the narrative in the way they phrase what is happening and their opinion of the events. For example, if the narrator is a grumpy old man, recounting a tale from his youth, he may use old-fashioned language, exaggerate what happened, and perhaps even get details mixed up. Does the narrator like the main character? Depending on what you decide, you can have two completely different types of stories. It is well known that when an incident occurs, and witness statements are taken, there are usually differences in the accounts, depending on how much they saw, their opinion, experience, and their intentions.

A good example of this is when people give reviews of a hotel. They can have exactly the same holiday, but depending on their personality, expectations, and even what mood they are in, they can be as different as a one-star and a five-star rating.

Okay, now it's your turn. I'm going to give you a little writing exercise to help you practise different narrative styles: -

1. Choose a passage from a book, or one of your own.

   
   

2. Make up a character. Make a note of things like their age, gender, occupation, marital status, beliefs, and whether they have a sense of humour. Are they direct or perhaps incredibly polite? You could even use one of your existing characters’ points of view.

   
   

3. Rewrite the passage using their voice, think of what opinions they will give based on their personality, and how they will phrase it differently.

   
   

4. Try this a few times with different characters and compare your results. The more distinct you can make your characters from each other, the better the outcome will be. For instance, you could choose someone to retell it who is from the Victorian age, or a young child.

   
   

5. Let me know your results!

And now, as I am sure you are sick of hearing my voice, as my husband tells me often, I will sign off. Happy voice experimenting, guys! See you next time.