Novelist, news reporter, biographer, stand-up comedian, ventriloquist…so many professions rely on the performer to find their voice. But what does voice mean for a performer? And how do you find it? The answer is frustratingly vague…and so simple that it’s kind of hard to understand. The vague answer is that your voice is the manner…
Tag: Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers
I’m a writer. . .aren’t I?
I got stuck on my work-in-progress. So, I answered emails from writing colleagues, I dove headfirst into critique and edit requests, I attended critique groups, I wrote blogs about writing, I did interviews on writing techniques and past releases… I kept busy, and most of it was writing-related. Meanwhile, my WIP languished. I’m a writer,…
What We Like to Hear. What We Don’t Like to Hear. What We Need to Hear.
I remember one or two arguments with my mom when I was little where she insisted she had told me something and I swore I’d never heard it. Later, when I was married, these arguments went both ways—one of us insisting we told the other something and they swearing we never did. I have since…
Would the greats of classic literature pass muster in today’s critique groups?
I’ve heard some of my yet-to-be-published colleagues complain when they read a new release, saying, “This is so poorly written because (insert critique cliche here, from show-don’t-tell to overuse of adverbs, or what have you), I can’t believe this person got published and I can’t.” But flawed bestsellers are nothing new, and not just in…
The Impolitic Vagueness of English
I was re-reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and toward the end I was struck by one line of dialog: “I could not have parted with you, my Lizzy, to anyone less worthy.” It is generally accepted that Mr. Bennet is saying that Mr. Darcy is most worthy to marry Elizabeth. But, given everyone’s prior…