What is Voice?

For a writer, voice is defined as how you tell a story. Sometimes it seems to come out of the mouth of a particular character. Other times it is a more distant narrator who uses the writer like a puppet to tell the story. A strong, distinct voice can be a magic ingredient that makes a not terribly dynamic plot engaging because it’s so beautifully written.

For a writer, voice can also be literal. On a good, good writing day, a voice delivers a single line of dialogue or an opening sentence, usually when you are someplace inconvenient, and then it demands, “Write me!”

A while back, I wrote about a voice experience in a post called Liars and Tablecloths. The voice that delivered that opening line took me down a path that included teenagers, a Ferris Wheel, unreliable narrators, the complicated relationship between sisters, and a twig that looked like a human finger.

The story that came from that voice is called “Evie.”

Yesterday, I donated “Evie” to the Billtown Blue Lit online literary journal. It was a Wednesday Free Short, a weekly offering by the journal to promote the writing and reading of literary fiction.

I’m glad Evie found a good and welcoming home. Heaven knows, she needed one.