Every time anyone mentions voice, my mind immediatly goes to that scene from The Little Mermaid with Ursula the Sea Witch making Ariel sing as she traps her voice into the shell. For those of you unfamiliar, I found this little remake on YouTube, and for those of you that are familiar with what I am talking about… well, truthfully I just couldn’t pass up posting this awesome video.

So, what is it about your voice that makes the story work, and more importantly.  How can you prove to an agent or a publisher that your voice is unique enough to stand out ina  crowd? Many writers are born with the talent, just like singers. But both need to practice to make their voices that much better than the rest.

I think the most important place to start with your storie’s voice is the first sentence. Let’s take, for example, the first sentence from my current work in progress.

I held my breath and dove into the crawl space just out of sight of the cops as they shone their flashlight in my direction.

Now, at first glance, I can see this sentence needs a lot of work. For starters, is shone even a word? If it is, then it makes me sound like a country bumpkin for sure.  This is for a Young Adult novel specifically written for girls, so we need to make sure it maintains that voice. If it were for a group of role playing grown men, then we would want something completely different. We might go with something like:

I watched my breath in the frozen air as I slipped into a small cavern just above the dragon’s lair while her warm body smoldered below.

If we were writing for middle grade we might do something like this:

I ducked under my desk and held my breath, nervous to get caught.

Now… if I can just get it to work for a Young Adult novel you guys will be the first to know!

So… good luck with finding your voice, and remember it’s all about your style!

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