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HOW TO WRITE THE BREAKOUT NOVEL: Part 6 - The Final Mystery Ingredient!

The dog days of summer are here and temperatures are soaring. Early-morning mist hangs limpid over the meandering river. I could stare are the greens of the foliage all day and never count the colours. And even the dogs themselves – in this case, Greenhouse intern Wee Man – give up all frolicking in favour of a cooling snooze with a stuffed duck.

It’s time to drift off to sleep in a deck chair, straw hat clamped on head, frozen Marguerita in hand . . .

Or is it? Aha no, because the Greenhouse rarely sleeps, and the job of writing and revising, writing and revising, is never done for you writers looking to claim your spot in the publishing sun. In fact, what is clear is that since I was accepted as a member of AAR (the Association of Authors’ Representatives) a short while ago, even MORE of you are finding us and submitting to Greenhouse!  A big welcome to anyone reading my blog for the first time who discovered us via the AAR website – great to have you with us.

You join us as we’ve nearly finished my mini-series of posts on the huge issue of ‘writing the breakout novel’, covering the need for an inspired concept, larger-than-life characters, high-stakes plotting, a deeply felt theme and vivid settings. If you didn’t catch the earlier ones, just scroll back and you’ll find them.

In theory we’ve finished. But have we really, because in reality there needs to be something else. A magical extra. An X factor. A ‘je ne sais quoi’ that will lift your story into another dimension and pick it out from the pack. What I wonder, could that extra va-va-voom be?
Can you guess? It’s the word I mutter constantly. And the word the Greenhouse Husband is so weary of hearing that he’s actually promised to thump me with a frying pan if I say it again in his presence.

Yes, it is . . .

VOICE.

Doh, most of you guessed it, didn’t you.

VOICE. VOICE. VOICE. VOICE. That elusive individuality which makes a story sing. Which makes the text run musically through your head as you read. Which apparently effortlessly evokes a sense of time and place, underscoring what kind of story you are reading. Lyrical and strange? Staccato and breathless? Folksy and rural? Gritty, tense and urban? Almost subliminally you absorb voice as you read and it can give a whole other level of meaning to the words that run along a page.

And here things get tricky. Because you’re going to ask me to teach you how to create voice – and I wish I could, but am not sure I’m able. What I CAN tell you, from many years of observation, is that I believe it has something to do with ear, and with listening acutely. I believe that some people have a natural ear for language and its flavor - what language is DOING and the why and how of that.  And in some way I think this echoes musicality – some of us have great ears, naturally repeating any rhythm and melody - and some of us just find it much, much tougher.

But what I DO think is that we can all improve our ears as we practice listening! Try concentrating on a great sentence, how it rises and falls; its cadences.  Sit back and listen to it as if you’re listening to Chopin or Lady Gaga, The Doors or the Jonas Brothers (look, I am trying to be eclectic!) .

Language is not a lumpen clod-like thing (unless you want it to be for some particular literary reason). It is beautiful, persuasive, agitating, breathtaking, melodious, and subliminal in its messages. What is the subliminal sub-text contained within the writing of YOUR story?

And here’s some homework for you. What books stand out to you as having a particularly strong and significant voice?  Send a comment with any observations you have on voice and I’ll post it for the benefit of all.  And if any MFA or MA grads are reading this, please feel free to give us the benefit of your wisdom on the subject!

I’ll start things off with suggesting WAITING FOR NORMAL by Leslie Connor (Katherine Tegen Books, HarperCollins USA), which I just read and loved. For me the simplicity and naivete of the voice perfectly carried this wise, heartbreaking, courageous story of a girl’s struggle to cope with an errant mother and uncertain future.  What a gem of a book, perfectly told!

So, voice.

Ears. Music. Listening. Capturing. Subliminal.

Keep your ears waggling and your heart on full alert to receive from the world around you. Then breathe it out, on to your screen, on to your page.

And here endeth our series of The Breakout Novel.

Enjoy this glorious summer and stay cool!

Comments (12)

ooh, Waiting for Normal really did have such a nice voice!  So sweet and powerful and evocative. 

I’ve enjoyed this series of posts, Sarah!  Each one has made me think about my writing, and that reflection is always so helpful.  *waggles ears happily*

Great post!

The most recent books I’ve read with awesome voice would have to be…

1. SOULLESS by Gail Carriger. Proper but snarky voice, much like if Jane Austen wrote a supernatural novel.

2. HOW I LIVE NOW by Meg Rosoff. Stream of consciousness that’s almost jarring at first, but man does that main character observe everything with heart-breaking honesty.

3. THE SKY ALWAYS HEARS ME by Kirstin Cronn-Mills. Funny but filled with desperation and slight edge-of-madness.

THE HELP, which I just finished and can’t get out of my head.

STAR GIRL

Lois Lowry’s, GATHERING BLUE

THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIE INDIAN

BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE

I’m going to go email the author of WAITING FOR NORMAL, she’ll be thrilled to hear you loved and blogged about her book!!

Cheers.

Some authors are told to mimic others for the voice until they get their own...what do you think of this?

I’ll second Meg Rosoff’s HOW I LIVE NOW and add:

-THE BOOK THIEF and I AM THE MESSENGER by Markus Zusak.

-THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME by Mark Haddon

-WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green & David Levithan

Kathi Appelt’s The Underneath has a strong, distinct voice-- and each line has her personal thumbprint. One great way to understand her voice is to read both The Underneath and her new novel, Keeper. They are completely different in tone and topic, but Kathi’s authorial voice is loud and clear in both novels.

I use lots of little techniques to develop my ear but one of my favorites is listening to poetry recited in a foreign language that I don’t speak. Litteratureaudio.com has some stunning examples of French poetry on YouTube. It’s hard to describe why this works, but it has something to do with listening to words purely for rhythm rather than meaning. I don’t try to copy those specific rhythms in my own writing but it seems to flip some sort of “sound awareness switch” inside my head.

Hi Sarah,

I love this series on writing.  You really have a way of inspiring us to dig deep and find those sometimes elusive, but so critical elements, of our writing to make them soar above normal.

A couple of books that really hooked me for voice were SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson and a recent assignment from Sarah Aronson (that I would never have found otherwise) was STONER & SPAZ by Ron Koertge. I read both of those in one sitting - a sure sign that the author has made their characters real and the plot compelling.

I also love Tami’s idea of listening to poetry in a foreign language. Clever! I love music and I’m definitely conscious of the rhythm and cadence of my words when writing. I love the challenge of tying all six elements of writing together in 300+ pages - there’s always room to do better.

Another great post, Sarah.  Maybe you should collect these six into one Breakout Novel document that writers could click on in the Greenhouse sidebar, because it says so much about what you do and what we all need to remember. 

I hope lots of people will send in their current favorite “voice” novels.  Mine would have to be the poignant and lyrical voice of the young Sudanese immigrant in HOME OF THE BRAVE: “When I take a deep breath of icy air, it is like swallowing an arrow, “or “A cow is God with a wet nose.”

You know the amazing part, I just found you accidentally today.  I so wish I had found you two years ago when I started writing.  THank you, Thank you, Thank you.  I have been wondering about the voice of a book. I can hear the voice, but I guess that is just because I wrote it.  I have had one agent keep telling me that he can’t hear the voice and I have submitted three different things to him.  The other agents I have submitted too mentioned nothing about inability to hear the voice, but not what they are looking for right now.  They all said to keep looking because my book would find a home.  I am so glad I came across your website.  I am definitely going to add you to my favorites.  Thank you so much!!

Voice seems to be such a subtle thing. I teach college and high school English, and some students just have a sense of voice, while other don’t. I really believe a writer develops his or her voice by reading a great deal, and by writing. practice helps ones voice to come out.

Thanks for this post. Voice is such an interesting and crucial thing - it makes the difference between a book you want to read and one you don’t. I’ve added my own take on it here:

http://thewritingden.webs.com/apps/blog/show/4329687-the-magic-telescope

Thank you so much for these posts! They have been incredibly helpful!!