Interview with children's author, writing consultant, conference speaker Nancy Kelly Allen...

Today, I am interviewing Kentucky children's author Nancy Kelly Allen on 'voice'--a critical part of every story. Visit Nancy's website to learn more: www.nancykellyallen.com
or follow her blogs at www.nancykellyallen.blogspot.com

It seems that editors are always looking for manuscripts with a distinctive voice. What is voice? Do you think kids notice it?

NKA: Voice is that indefinable quality of writing that is different for every writer so I guess that’s why editors say they don’t know what they’re looking for but they know when they read it. It’s the writer’s individual style. Sometimes we pick up a book and recognize an author’s style immediately because the words and phrasing reflects the writer’s authentic voice. Word choice, narrative, dialog, and even tone contribute to a writer’s voice. Some writers use short snappy sentences; others prefer long descriptions. Some write chatty dialog while others create lyrical prose. Some dish out humor; others are more serious. Over time, a style develops. That doesn’t mean a style is permanent, but certain characteristic threads will likely weave through most of the writing, and those characteristic threads are the writer’s voice.

Actually, I don’t worry about voice when I’m writing picture books. My primary goal is to tell the story. When I have the plot and characters figured out and the story from beginning to end on paper, I revise with the goal of injecting voice into the story. When I wrote, The Munched-Up Flower Garden, I followed this model. In the first draft, I wrote, “James ran.” During the revision I changed the words to “James sure can make the dust fly as he picks them up and puts them down.” The revision of voice doesn’t change the plot but the story now tickles the ears with a poetic tingle. And that’s what voice is to me: a stringing together of words so they fall on the ear like music. We each have a distinctive manner of speaking so our characters should reflect real life in that respect. A character that grew up in the South would probably not use the same words as a character that grew up in New York City. A doctor would use the different words to describe a particular ailment than those of a six-year-old child. Voice should reflect the character and the world and situation in which the character exists.

Children definitely notice the voice of characters. Liz is the main character in The Munched-Up Flower Garden. She is feisty, but loveable, and has distinctive voice. She’s loud. She gets frustrated easily, and she is funny. The use of voice makes a character come to life. I want a character to leap off the pages of the book and become almost real to the reader or listener. Voice in dialog and thoughts make the character unique.

I think voice is the part of the literary process that emerges as an author becomes more comfortable or confident in his/her writing. Voice develops over time. Writing a particular character does not come naturally to me. I have spent a career around children. As a former teacher and librarian, I had access to kids and books on a daily basis. As a writer this is fertile ground. I not only listened to what kids said but how they said it. Listening to how people talk is a productive way to create voice for a character. Everyone has a friend or relative who has a charming or disgruntled or funny way of speaking. Tune in to those unusual phrases and recapture them in a character. If you hear a particular phrase that you think would work for a character, write it down. If not, you’ll probably forget before you get around to tapping the keyboard. Experiment with writing to see what type of voice works best for a particular character.

Nothing is truly unique in writing. Instead of trying to capture something no one has ever done before, try capturing a realistic voice that rings true for the character throughout the story. Stay consistent.

One of the best ways to discover voice is to read a variety of books by different authors. Read the book the first time to enjoy it. Read it the second time to pinpoint how the author strung words together to create the voices of different characters. Most of all, write, write, write and read, read, read. Have fun with words and you will discover your own voice as a writer.