Voice equals Character:
For the past few months I've been working on a resurrected short story that I started before I got sick. This has been a huge struggle for me. It is in first person and the main character is not human. That meant I had to put myself inside a birds brain literally, though she is magical so she's not an ordinary hen, and I had to try to view the world from her perspective. I can't fly so you can imagine for yourself some of that challenge. On top of it, I chose to write in 1st person. My character seemed to demand this. Did I tell you I'm not comfortable writing in 1st person. Well, I'm not.
So there you have it. Why did I go to this trouble. Because this story spoke to me. I wanted something a little different than what is out there in fantasy currently and I was drawn to this character.
I bet you've heard of voice when it comes to writers. We all have our own. But I want to stretch that a little further. Each story I write seems to take on a life of it's own and therefore speaks a little differently to me and I interpret it a little differently for the reader. Voice.
One of the biggest obstacles to 1st person is knowing when you are telling the story too much. The reader needs to feel as if they are experiencing the story which is known as showing. For me this was solved when I added a 3rd character. That character was so strange that my main protagonist couldn't help noticing.
Here's her picture that I drew a couple years ago. Her name is Anastasia
Phoenix.
Anastasia is almost ready for my editor and then she will become an e-book.
Nancy
Copyright 2013
