Diane Sherlock

VOICE
We start at the beginning—finding a voice for your narrator, and by extension, your writing voice.

major problem of beginning writers is the tendency to write like other people.

The best way? Write like you speak.

Here’s the kicker, though. You don’t always talk the same way. You speak to your teachers one way, your parents another. You talk to your friends one way, and your baby brother another. You would speak to the President of the United States one way, and to a street person another. Which do you use for your novel or your story? Simple: whichever one fits.

Here’s a list of the different types of “literary” voices. Don’t let the term scare you. It’s just a fancy word for “we did a lot of work to figure this out, and we want you to think we’re smarter than we are.”

NATURAL VOICE

What’s narrative voice? How do you find yours? Well, write the way you speak. We’re serious

Sit down and imagine your best friend is in the chair opposite you. Now tell them about something that happened in the last few days. Good. Do it again, only this time, write down the words as you say them. Don’t worry about spelling and grammar for now (we’ll get to that). Just get it down. Go!

THE RANT